r 


y 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 


BOJ^ 


MRS.   MARY  WOLFSOHN  , 


IN   MEMORY  OF 

HENRY  WOLFSOHN 


:M^M:M':M:M^M:M^M:M^:M:M^M'j^jf^^M^MJ&^M^i 


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DE  WITT  &  SNELI 

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THE  CHRISTIANITY  OF  CHRIST 


REV.    ROBERT    F.   COYLE,    D.   D 


Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
Oakland,  Cal. 


published  by  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church 

OAKLAND,  1892 


PREFATORY    NOTE. 


The  sermons  in  this  little  volume  are  issued  only  at  the  urg^ent 
request  of  those  who  heard  them.  They  were  written  amid  the 
pressure  of  duty  that  belongs  to  a  busy  pastorate,  and  make  no 
pretension  to  either  homiletic  or  literary  excellence.  -  Their  only 
value  is  in  the  precious  truth  they  embody.  The  "Christianity  of 
Christ"  is  a  great  field  from  which  but  a  few  small  sheaves  are 
here  gathered.  For  whatever  help  the  author  has  received, 
directly  or  indirectly,  by  suggestion  or  otherwise,  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  these  discourses,  he  makes  grateful  acknowledgment.  In 
sending  them  forth  he  humbly  prays  that  their  reading  may  estab- 
lish some  in  the  "faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  and  lead 
others  to  embrace  it. 

R.    F.    COYLE. 

Oakland,  Cal., 

December,  1891. 


I 


THE  CHRISTIANITY  OF  CHRIST. 


[Introductory  Sermon.] 

"The  former  treatise  have  I  made,  O  Theophilus,  of  all  that 
Jesus  began  both  to  do  and  teach." — Acts  1 : 1. 


TO  learn  what  the  religion  of  Christ  is  and  what  it 
requires,  we  must  turn  from  the  traditions  of  men  to 
what  Jesus  himself  did  and  taught.  This  we  have  very 
simply  and  beautifully  recorded  in  the  Gospels,  the  first 
three  of  which  are  accepted  as  genuine  by  skeptics  and 
Christians  alike.  There  is  no  respectable  scholarship 
anywhere  that  presumes  to  discredit  the  historical  tes- 
timony of  Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke;  and  it  is  to  the 
last  of  these  that  our  text  refers  when  it  speaks  of  the 
"  former  treatise." 

We  have  the  Christianity  of  Calvin,  and  the  Chris- 
tianity of  Arminius;  the  Christianity  of  Luther,  and 
the  Christianity  of  the  Papacy;  we  have  Christianity 
ritualized  as  among  the  High  Church  people  of  Eng- 
land, and  Christianity  rationalized  as  among  the 
skeptics  of  Germany;  we  have  it  in  a  great  variety  of 
forms,  bearing  in  every  case  the  impress  of  the  human 

1 58784 


—  4  — 

molds  in  which  its  raw  material  has  been  cast.  I  do 
not  undertake  to  criticise  an}^  of  these  forms.  That  is 
something  for  which  I  am  utterly  incompetent,  even 
if  I  had  the  self-assurance  to  attempt  it.  This,  however, 
may  be  safely  said  that  in  so  far  as  these  different  varie- 
ties of  Christianity  abide  by  that  which  has  been  re- 
vealed, they  are  true;  and,  in  so  far  as  they  have 
been  infiltrated  with  human  speculation  and  tinct- 
tured  with  human  prejudice,  they  contain  more  or 
less  of  error. 

What  I  desire,  let  me  say  specifically,  is  to  bring  to 
your  attention  and  write  anew  upon  your  hearts  and 
mind  the  City  of  Christ  as  he  himself  has  set  it  forth 
in  precept  and  parable,  in  word  and  deed.  Instead  of 
drinking  of  the  waters  far  down  from  their  source, 
where  they  have  been  somewhat  mixed  and  contami- 
nated with  alien  streams,  we  are  to  go  directly  to  the 
Fountain  Head,  flowing  clear  as  crystal  from  the 
everlasting  Rock,  and  quench  our  thirst  there.  Of 
course,  in  entering  upon  this  study  I  cannot  go  into 
all  the  details  of  our  Lord's  life  and  sayings,  but  shall 
select  for  consideration  that  which  He  has  made  most 
salient  and  upon  which  He  has  laid  most  emphasis. 
In  favor  of  this  method  it  may  be  said,  in  the  first 
place,  that — 

It  will  serve  to  direct  our  thought  to  Christianity 
in  its  purity  and  simplicity.  In  a  recent  number  of  one 
of  the  reviews  that  come  to  my  study-table  a  story  is 
told  of  a  certain  spring  which  for  generations  supplied 
an  unfailing  abundance  of  clear,  sweet  water  to  the 


—  5  — 

people  of  its  neighborhood.  The  owner  was  justly 
proud  of  it;  but  many  years  ago  he  thought  to  make 
a  shade  near  the  spot,  and  so  planted  a  tree  close  to 
the  spring.  The  tree  grew,  and  its  shadow^  fell  far 
and  wide,  and  those  who  came  on  a  summer  noon  to 
take  a  draught  from  the  refreshing  waters  were  shel- 
tered from  the  fierce  heat. 

But,  alas,  the  roots  of  the  tree  penetrated  to  the 
fountain,  and  the  whole  was  tainted,  and  now  the 
spring  is  neglected  and  its  waters  forsaken. 

So  men  have  often  spoiled  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus 
by  attempting  to  improve  it.  Instead  of  accepting  it 
as  it  is  in  all  its  native  plainness,  undoctored  and  un- 
alloyed, they  have  sought  to  subtract  from  it  here  and 
add  to  it  there,  and  thus  have  either  robbed  it  of  its 
strength  and  glory,  or  turned  thirsty  souls  from  it 
altogether. 

Some  have  endeavored  to  convince  themselves  and 
their  fellow-men  that  there  is  really  nothing  to  fear, 
that  things  are  going  to  come  out  all  right  by-and-by, 
that  the  infinite  goodness  of  the  Almighty  will  some- 
how or  other  throw  itself  about  every  wanderer,  and 
woo  him  safely  home  at  last.  They  have  planted  the 
tree  of  a  broad  and  easy  salvation  hard  by  the  Foun- 
tain of  Life,  and  the  result  has  been  that  the  roots  of 
that  tree  have  reached  the  spring,  and  have  tainted  its 
healing  waters  for  multitudes  of  people.  They  can  no 
longer  endure  a  pure  gospel,  but  must  have  it  diluted 
and  weakened  and  softened  by  human  infiltrations. 

God  is  love,  and  God's  love  is  the  arch  that  under- 


lies  the  whole  superstructure  of  Christianity,  but  that 
arch  itself  rests  upon  the  two  pillars  of  justice  and  mercy. 
The  God  who  will  allow  men  to  plunge  into  all  sorts  of 
iniquity,  and  then  weep  over  them  and  sweep  them 
into  heaven  on  the  full  and  resistless  tide  of  His  com- 
passion, regardless  of  any  change  of  heart  or  charac- 
ter, is  not  the  God  of  the  Bible.  A  God  too  weak,  too 
yielding,  too  sentimental  to  maintain  the  integrity  of 
His  own  moral  government,  must  surely  sit  upon  a  tot- 
tering throne.  Let  not  man  think  that  God's  word  can 
be  made  sweeter,  more  comforting  and  more  attractive 
by  planting  trees  of  human  speculation  and  philoso- 
phy on  its  margin.  It  is  best  just  as  it  is, — best  for 
comfort,  best  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for 
instruction  in  righteousness, — to  make  the  man  of  God 
perfect,  "  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works ; " 
and  to  attempt  to  modify  it,  to  add  to  it,  or  take  from 
it,  is  to  invite  the  plagues  that  are  written  therein. 
As  no  work  of  art  can  improve  on  the  simplicity  of 
nature,  as  no  astronomy  can  add  one  beam  to  the 
sun,  so  no  cleverness  of  human  scholarship,  no  acute- 
ness  of  human  genius,  can  improve  on  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ.  We  turn,  therefore,  from  human  cisterns 
to  drink  out  of  the  wells  of  God. 

Passing  from  the  vestibule  with  its  jangling  voices 
and  clashing  creeds,  we  shall  enter  the  temple  and 
walk  and  talk  with  Jesus.  We  go,  not  to  the  scribes, 
not  to  those  who  sit  in  Moses'  seat,  not  to  those  who 
have  been  trained  to  look  through  glasses  of  a  certain 
shade,  and  who  are  prone  to  see  everything  from  a 


7  — 


certain  ecclesiastical  angle,  but  to  the  Great  Teacher, 
to  the  ultimate  Authority,  "  in  whom  are  hid  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge."  This  will  take 
us  out  of  the  haze  and  confusion,  out  of  the  blinding 
dust  stirred  up  by  opposing  schools,  into  the  clear 
shining  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness.  It  will  lead  us 
to  the  original  sources,  and  give  us  our  knowledge  of 
"the  old,  old  story"  at  first  hand,  and  knowledge  so 
obtained  is  always  fresh  and  stimulating.  Too  much 
of  our  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  is  like  fruit  long  since 
plucked  and  labeled  and  put  away  upon  the  shelf. 
The  rich  flavor,  the  delicious  taste,  the  juiciness  it 
once  had,  are  gone;  but  in  this  study  I  ask  you  to 
come  with  me  and  help  me  to  shake  the  sweet  and 
luscious  grapes  from  the  vine.  Too  long  we  have 
been  content  to  take  from  .this  and  that  basket;  but 
now  we  are  to  gather  them  in  the  very  garden  of  the 
Lord.  Here  in  the  city  we  must  get  our  apples  and 
peaches  and  pears  from  the  fruit-dealers  as  best  we 
can,  after  they  have  come  through  half  a  dozen  hands, 
perhaps,  and  w^e  often  have  to  pay  high  prices  for  a 
very  poor  article.  But  those  of  us  who  have  lived  in 
the  country  know  how  delightful  it  is  to  go  back  to 
the  old  farm,  and,  wandering  out  to  the  orchard,  reach 
up  and  help  ourselves,  without  money  and  -without 
price.  Well,  something  like  that  is  what  we  propose 
to  do  in  turning  our  attention  to  the  Christianity  of 
Christ. 

A  second  thing  that  may  be  said  in  favor  of  this 
study  is  that  it  will  give  us  something  connected  and 


—  8  — 

consecutive  to  think  about.  Instead  of  roaming  about 
through  the  word  of  God,  and  taking  for  consideration 
a  fragment  here  and  a  fragment  there,  as  fancy  or  in- 
clination may  direct,  it  will  chain  us  down  to  some- 
thing solid,  and  make  us  familiar  not  with  an  occa- 
sional flower  culled  from  the  green  pastures,  but  with 
large  sections  of  a  glorious  landscape:  not  with  texts, 
but  with  gospels.  We  need  instruction,  for  without 
knowledge  there  can  be  no  conviction,  and  without 
conviction  there  can  be  no  sustained  enthusiasm,  and 
the  best  and  most  effective  instruction  is  that  which  is 
bound  together  link  on  link.  It  edifies,  it  builds  up, 
it  strengthens,  it  gives  symmetry  to  thought  and  char- 
acter. As  a  preparation  for  this  study,  therefore,  let 
me  urge  you  to  a  careful  and  systematic  reading  of  the 
gospels.  Read  them  not  by  fits  and  starts,  but  go 
through  them  consecutively,  and  if  you  can  find  time 
to  read  one  of  them  at  a  single  sitting,  so  much  the 
better;  it  will  set  the  whole  story  before  you  in  its 
completeness,  you  will  see  the  wondrous  Man  on  the 
hills  and  on  the  sea,  in  the  temple,  in  the  home,  in 
the  place  of  sorrow,  moving  in  and  out  until  he 
expires  on  the  cross,  then  appears  in  resurrection 
glory,  soon  to  ascend  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father 
Almighty,  and  as  you  read  your  heart  will  burn,  wor- 
ship will  kindle  its  fires  in  your  soul,  and  you  will  con- 
secrate yourself  anew  to  the  Lord's  service. 

In  favor  of  this  undertaking  it  may  be  said,  more- 
over, that  it  will  serve  to  dear  up  our  ideas  as  to  just 
what  Christianity  is.     We  certainly  need  to  be  clear  on 


—  9  — 

this  point.  There  are  some  who  seem  to  think  that 
Christianity  is  a  sort  of  reforming  agency;  that  it  is 
only  one  of  many  forces  at  work  in  the  world  to  make 
men  better ;  that  it  co-operates  with  other  schemes  to 
elevate  mankind.  You  have  seen  men  put  jackscrews 
under  an  old  dilapidated  house,  whose  sills  were 
rotting  away,  because  it  was  built  on  low  and  miry 
ground,  and  lift  it  up  and  lay  a  new  foundation 
under  it,  and  touch  it  up  here  and  there  until  exter- 
nally it  was  quite  attractive,  but  it  was  the  old  house 
still.  There  were  the  old  beams,  and  the  old  rafters, 
and  the  old  frame-work,  just  as  they  were  from  the 
beginning.  But  utterly  different  from  that  is  the 
w^ork  of  Christianity.  We  shall  find  as  we  look  into 
the  gospels  that  Christianity  never  came  into  the 
world  to  repair  people,  to  mend  them  and  patch  them 
up  and  make  them  look  a  trifle  better;  we  shall  find 
that  it  never  came  to  tinker  and  cobble  and  fix  over 
the  old  house  and  spend  its  efforts  in  a  little  outside 
daubing. 

"Behold,  I  make  all  things  new,"  saith  the  Lord. 
A  new  heart,  a  new  life,  a  new  purpose,  a  new  center, 
a  new  man  in  Christ  Jesus.  That  is  Christianity.  It 
is  not  here  to  sew  the  new  cloth,  woven  out  of  the 
agonies  of  the  cross,  to  the  old  garments  of  the  fleshy 
nature.  It  is  not  here  to  put  the  new  wine  of  the 
kingdom  into  tlie  old  bottles.  It  is  not  here  to  graft 
the  new  and  vigorous  shoot  of  the  spiritual  life  into 
the  old  sin-smitten,  worm-eaten  stock.  It  is  not  here 
to  stop  a  leak  or  two  in  the  old  ship  in  order  to  keep 


—  10  — 

it  afloat  till  it  reaches  shore.  Christianity  is  not  a 
scheme  to  cover  up  old  and  unsightly  things  under 
a  new  paint.  It  is  not  whitewash  on  a  sepulchre.  It 
is  not  perfume  sprinkled  on  a  dead  carcass.  It  is  not 
a  mixture  of  light  and  darkness,  of  health  and  disease, 
of  purity  and  impurity,  but  a  new  heart,  and  a  new 
spirit,  and  a  new  name,  and  a  new  song — everything 
new. 

I  know  there  are  some  who  think  of  Christianity  as 
a  sort  of  supplement  or  appendix  to  what  man  has 
done  in  order  to  make  his  work  acceptable.  But 
nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  When  a 
house  has  been  infected  with  the  leprosy  or  some  deadly 
plague  men  are  not  content  to  simply  fumigate  its 
rooms,  and  scrape  its  walls,  and  wash  its  floors,  but 
they  raze  it  to  the  ground,  and  burn  it  to  ashes,  and 
build  anew  from  the  bottom  up.  So  Christianity 
comes  to  "  crucify  the  flesh,  with  its  affections  and 
lusts."  It  comes  as  a  new  creation,  fresh  from  the 
hand  of  God.  In  one  word,  it  comes  not  to  reform  or 
repair,  but  to  regenerate.  This  is  what  we  shall  learn 
as  we  go  on  with  our  study. 

As  we  turn  to  what  Jesus  did  and  taught,  we  shall 
find,  furthermore,  that  the  Christianity  of  Christ  is 
not  a  well-wrought  system  of  theories  and  specula- 
tions and  inferences  and  dogmas,  all  skillfully  woven 
together,  but  that  it  is  a  series  of  great  historical  facts. 
It  comes  to  us  with  the  astounding  information  that 
at  a  given  time  and  in  a  given  way  the  unseen,  eter- 
nal God,  actuated  by  his  yearning  love,  interposed  to 


—  11  — 

save  the  world  by  the  sacrifice  of  His  Son ;  and  the 
gospel  story  contains  the  history  of  how  that  Son  came 
and  suffered  and  died  and  rose  again.  Take  these 
facts  away  and  there  is  nothing  left.  Every  distinct- 
ive doctrine  of  our  faith  comes  out  of  the  recorded 
facts  of  the  gospel  as  the  flower  comes  out  of  the  seed. 
Christianity  does  not  rest  upon  any  theory  of  inspira- 
tion, verbal  or  otherwise;  it  does  not  rest  upon  a  book, 
or  any  number  of  books,  or  upon  the  absolute  harmony 
of  every  statement  in  the  gospel  with  every  other  state- 
ment, but  upon  the  great  facts  connected  with  the  life 
of  the  Christ.  Eliminate  these,  strike  them  out,  and 
Christianity  evaporates  into  a  thin  mist,  too  light  and 
.  airy  to  bear  up  our  feet  as  we  pass  out  into  eternity. 
The  incarnation,  the  crucifixion,  the  resurrection, 
the  "superhuman  intervention  of  Almighty  God  to 
redeem  fallen  man  and  restore  peace  betwixt  earth 
and  heaven  and  give  back  celestial  life  to  sinners," — 
if  these  be  not  facts,  Christianity  is  a  myth  and  faith 
is  folly.  Look  at  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  you  will 
see  that  it  is  simply  a  series  of  stupendous  gospel  facts 
alleged  of  one  stupendous  person.  Deny  these  facts, 
for  the  sake  of  getting  rid  of  difficulty,  and  you  have 
killed  the  religion  of  the  cross;  nothing  is  left  of  it 
worth'  thinking  about.  If,  therefore,  this  study  shall 
re-impress  us  with  the  truth  that  the  Christianity  of 
Christ  is  a  series  of  historical  facts,  it  will  certainly 
be  most  profitable.  It  will  show  us  that  certain  great 
doctrines,  which  we  have  been  taught  to  believe  are 
fundamental,   are   not   the   dogmas   of    superstitious 


—  12  — 

priests,  but  are  the  legitimate  and  inevitable  deduc- 
tions from  these  great  facts  of  the  past. 

There  is,  moreover,  this  to  be  said  in  favor  of  what 
is  proposed,  viz.:  that  it  will  be  profoundly  'practical. 
This  is  what  the  age  is  crying  out  for.  We  hear  it  on 
every  side.  "Give  us  something  practical,"  is  the 
clamor  of  our  times.  "Something  tangible,  some- 
thing that  bears  down  directly  upon  the  life  of  to-day." 
That  is  the  demand  of  the  age,  but  those  who  make 
the  cry  do  not  always  stop  to  reflect  that  nothing  can 
be  wholesomely  practical  that  does  not  come  out  of 
principles  that  reach  back  to  the  will  of  God.  How 
barren,  in  practical  results,  for  example,  is  infidelity 
through  all  its  shades  and  varieties.  What  reforms 
does  it  start?  What  rivers  does  it  cause  to  break 
forth  in  the  desert?  What  waste  places  does  it  trans- 
form into  beautiful  and  fruitful  gardens  of  delight? 
What  schools  does  it  plant?  What  evils  does  it  erad- 
icate? What  man  on  earth  to-day  has  joined  the  cru- 
sade against  intemperance,  against  the  saloon-power, 
against  monopoly,  against  iniquity  in  high  places, 
because  he  was  inspired  by  infidelity?  And  why  is 
it  thus  barren  and  useless?  Simply  because  it  has  no 
eternal  principles  to  back  it  up. 

But  this  is  what  you  will  find  if  you  look  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  great  movements  that  are  blessing 
and  purifying  society ;  you  will  find  that  back  of  them, 
inspiring  them,  pushing  them  forward,  making  them 
instinct  with  life  and  force  and  beneficence,  is  the 
Christianity  of  Christ.    What  power  is  it  that  is  send- 


—  13  — 

ing  young  men  and  women  to  the  interior  of  Africa, 
to  the  idol-cursed  lands  of  India,  to  the  remote  and 
desolate  corners  of  the  earth,  as  messengers  of  peace 
and  love?  What  power  is  it  that  in  our  own  land, 
yea,  in  our  own  city,  is  causing  men  and  women  to 
devote  their  means,  their  infxuence,  and  their  lives  to 
lift  up  the  fallen,  to  cheer  the  discouraged,  to  snatch 
the  slaves  of  sin  and  vice  as  brands  from  the  burning 
and  set  their  faces  toward  better  things?  I  answer, 
it  is  the  power  that  has  its  origin  in  the  Cross  of 
Christ.  As  all  light  and  heat  come  ultimately  from 
the  sun,  as  all  rivers  come  from  the  ocean,  so  all  the 
streams  of  influence  that  are  healing  and  sweetening 
the  life  of  the  world  come  in  their  last  analysis  from 
that— 

"  Fountain  filled  with  blood 
Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins." 

Let  it  not  be  imagined,  therefore,  that  in  turning' 
back  to  what  Jesus  did  and  taught  we  shall  be  turn- 
ing away  from  that  which  is  practical  and  adapted  to 
the  life  of  the  hour.  Far  from  it.  Far  from  it.  The 
very  opposite  is  the  case.  From  every  point  of  the 
compass  there  comes  flaming  testimony  to  the  fact 
that  he  who  would  preach  a  practical  religion  must 
never  lose  sight  of  the  Cross,  and  that  if  he  w^ould 
have  his  people  quick  to  respond  to  the  call  of  duty, 
Avith  consciences  tender  and  sensitive,  he  must  keep 
them  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  gospel.  I  will  tell  you 
the  kind  of  preaching  that  is  of  no  account.  It  is  the 
sort  that  abounds  in  rhetorical  fireworks  and  oratorical 


—  14  — 


display,  in  flowers  and  fancies,  in  gush  and  sentiment. 
It  may  entertain  an  audience,  it  may  win  the  applause 
of  an  hour,  people  may  go  home  and  say,  "  Wasn't  it 
sweet?  Wasn't  it  beautiful?"  and  yet  all  the  week 
long,  until  the  next  Sabbath,  walk  arm  in  arm  with 
the. world.  Over  such  preaching  the  wind  bloweth 
and  it  is  gone.  There  is  no  substance,  nothing  that 
w411  arouse  men  and  w^omen  to  put  their  heels  upon 
sin  and  their  hands  to  the  work  of  the  Lord.  For 
practical  results,  for  quickening  power,  for  zeal  that 
will  fling  its  heat  from  one  Lord's  day  to  another,  we 
must  turn  to  the  Christianity  of  Christ.  The  apostles, 
you  remember,  had  no  elaborate  machinery,  they  had 
no  volumes  of  learned  lore  to  draw  upon,  they  had  no 
reviews  and  well-filled  periodicals  to  furnish  them 
with  illustrations  for  sermons,  they  did  not  even  have 
the  New  Testament;  all  they  had  was  Jesus  Christ 
and  Him  crucified,  but  were  they  not  practical  ?  Did 
they  not  accomplish  wonders?  Did  they  not  shake 
emperors  and  make  kings  tremble  on  their  thrones  ? 
Yes,  brethren,  the  gospel  is  practical,  and  in  leading 
you  to  what  Jesus  did  and  taught  I  am  sure  I  shall  be 
leading  you  to  something  that  will  bear  more  directly 
upon  your  lives  and  conduct  than  anything  else  can 
possibly  do.  I  shall  be  leading  you  to  something  that 
will  instruct  the  mind,  soften  the  conscience,  improve 
the  life,  cheer  the  heart,  and  replenish  the  lamp  of 
Hope. 

There  is  this  to  be  said  in  conclusion:  I  am  per- 
suaded that  the  Christianity  of  Christ  is  what  the  great 


—  15  — 

majority  of  you  want  to  hear  about.  A  story  is  told 
of  a  young  minister  who  preached  a  very  learned  and 
eloquent  sermon.  As  a  piece  of  literature  it  was  above 
criticism.  It  displayed  much  study  and  profound 
thought.  But  there  was  no  Christ,  no  gospel  in  it, 
and  so  at  its  conclusion  some  hungering  soul  sent  up 
to  him  a  little  piece  of  paper  with  these  significant 
words  written  upon  it,  "Sir,  we  would  see  Jesus." 
And  that  is  what  all  you  Christian  people  are  saying 
to-day.     The  language  of  your  inmost  hearts  is — 

"  We  would  see  Jesus,  for  the  shadows  lengthen 
Across  this  little  landscape  of  our  life, 
We  would  see  Jesus,  our  weak  faith  to  strengthen 
For  the  last  weariness — the  final  strife. 

"  We  would  see  Jesus,  the  great  Rock  Foundation, 
Whereon  our  feet  were  set  by  Sovereign  grace. 
Not  life  nor  death,  with  all  their  agitation. 
Can  thence  remove  us,  if  we  see  His  face." 

God  help  us  to  hold  Him  up  that  you  may  see  Him 
and  find  solace  and  comfort  and  inspiration  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord.  I.  know  that  some  of  you  are  sick 
and  wounded  in  the  battle,  and  that  you  want  the 
balm  of  the  gospel.  I  know  that  some  of  you  are 
tired  and  burdened  and  long  for  the  shadow  of  the 
great  Rock  in  a  weary  land.  I  know  that  some  of  you 
are  nearing  Eternity,  already  its  breath  is  on  your 
brow,  and  you  want  to  see  Him  who  is  the  Lord  of 
death  as  well  as  life.  Yes,  up  from  every  part  of  the 
congregation  I  think  I  hear  voices  saying : 

"  Tell  me  the  old,  old  story 
Of  unseen  things  above, 
Of  Jesus  and  His  glory. 
Of  Jesus  and  His  love. 


16 


Tell  me  the  story  simply, 

As  to  a  little  child, 
For  I  am  weak  and  weary, 

And  helpless  and  defiled." 


To  tell  that  story  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  to  take  you 
back  to  what  Jesus  did  and  taught,  to  present  the  gos- 
pel as  it  touches  the  life  which  now  is  and  the  life  which 
is  to  come,  is  what  I  now  attempt  more  fully,  more 
faithfully,  than  ever  before.  And,  though  it  will  in- 
volve a  great  deal  of  hard  work,  I  undertake  it  with 
anticipations  of  delight.     For — 

"  I  love  to  tell  the  story,  more  wonderful  it  seems 
Than  all  the  golden  fancies  of  all  our  golden  dreams; 
I  love  to  tell  the  story !    It  did  so  much  for  me ! 
And  that  is  just  the  reason  I  tell  it  now  to  thee." 

And  I  ask  you,  dear  brethren,  to  join  with  me  in  your 
prayers,  both  here  and  in  your  homes,  that  the  telling 
of  it  may  be  the  power  of  God  unto  the  salvation  of 
many  souls. 


WHAT    CHRIST    TEACHES    US    TO   BELIEVE 
CONCERNING    GOD. 


"No  man  hath  seen  God  at  anytime;  the  only  begotten  Son, 
whjeh  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him.— J^oM 
1:18. 


WHEN  the  writer  affirms  that  "  No  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time,"  he  is  not  stating  an  isolated 
case  by  any  means.  It  is  impossible  to  see  anything  that 
is  really  great.  You  see  the  tree,  the  flower,  the  man, 
but  whoever  got  a  glimpse  of  life?  Shakespeare's 
writings  are  visible  enough,  but  Shakespeare's  genius, 
Shakespeare's  capacious  mind — what  eye  of  mortal 
ever  saw  that?  We  have  often  gone  down  here 
to  the  sea-beach  to  watch  the  white-bannered  waves 
charging  upon  the  shore;  we  have  felt  the  very  earth 
tremble  under  their  dash  and  shock,  but  the  power 
that  urged  them  on  kept  out  of  sight,  and  always  will. 
No  man  hath  seen  thought  at  any  time,  and  yet 
thought  is  back  of  all  our  libraries,  and  works  of  art 
and  splendid  buildings  and  endless  contrivances.  No 
man  hath  seen  music  at  any  time,  nor  could  he  find 
it  though  he  were  to  take  the  organ  to  pieces  and 


18 


scrutinize  every  part  of  its  mechanism.  No  man  hath 
seen  magnetism  at  any  time,  and  yet  see  how  the 
needle  is  held  with  point  to  the  pole  as  if  in  the  grip 
of  an  invisible  hand.  Let  us  not  be  disturbed,  there- 
fore, when  the  text  declares  that  "  No  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time,"  for  that  which  is  truly  great  is 
never  seen.  A  God  that  we  could  measure  and  weigh 
and  photograph  would  be  about  as  worthless  as  the 
Chinaman's  wooden  idol. 

No  man  hath  seen  God,  and  yet  God  was  manifest 
in  the  flesh.  That  may  be  a  mystery,  perhaps,  but 
there  is  certainly  no  reason  why  we  should  stumble 
over  it.  How,  for  example,  do  you  make  your  thought 
manifest?  You  incarnate  it,  do  you  not?  You  bring 
your  idea  out  of  the  unseen  and  give  it  shape  and 
form  in  a  dress  or  a  book,  or  a  building,  or  some  busi- 
ness enterprise.  In  other  words,  your  thought  must 
be  born  in  some  Bethlehem;  it  must  become  flesh,  or 
it  never  can  be  known.  The  same  thing  is  true  of 
love.  It  is  impossible  to  grasp  and  appreciate  it  simply 
as  an  idea.  It  must  be  brought  out  and  embodied  in 
a  breathing  frame  of  flesh  and  blood.  I  touch  upon 
this  to  remind  you  that  when  God  incarnated  himself 
in  Jesus  Christ  he  did  what  we  ourselves  are  con- 
stantly compelled  to  do  on  lower  lines.  He  revealed 
himself  by  incarnation;  so  does  every  one  of  us. 

The  meaning  of  the  text  is  very  clear,  and  no  time 
need  be  spent  in  explaining  it.  It  teaches  us  that  the 
unseen,  eternal  God,  has  been  revealed  by  Jesus 
Christ.     "  He  hath  declared  him."     That  is,  he  hath 


—  1 


set  him  forth,  or  made  him  known.  When  a  scholar 
interprets  or  opens  up  a  passage  of  Scripture  so  as  to 
bring  its  hidden  meaning  to  light,  he  is  called  an 
exegete;  and  that,  precisely,  is  the  term  used  in  our 
text.  The  invisible  has  been  interpreted  to  the  un- 
derstanding of  the  world  by  the  Lord  Jesus.  Hence, 
through  this  interpretation,  we  must  come  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  God,  for  there  is  no  other  way. 

What,  then,  does  Christ  teach  us  to  believe  concern- 
ing God?  To  answer  this  inquiry  exhaustively,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  proceed  along  two  lines  of  in- 
vestigation, viz. :  Those  of  his  oral  instruction,  and 
his  life.  In  other  words,  we  should  have  to  take  up 
for  study  both  the  written  and  the  living  revelation. 
But  as  the  latter  will  come  up  for  consideration  in  an- 
other connection,  I  shall  this  morning  confine  myself 
to  the  former.  In  the  light  of  Christ's  own  recorded 
declarations,  plain,  specific  and  oft-repeated,  what  are 
we  to  believe  concerning  God  ?  I  trust  I  realize  some- 
thing of  the  importance  of  the  question,  for  the  life  of 
every  one  of  us,  here  and  hereafter,  will  inevitably  be 
shaped  by  the  answer  we  give  to  it.  The  truth  is,  I 
feel  embarrassed  by  the  very  abundance  of  material 
that  is  available.  The  gospels  are  full  of  it.  But  as  a 
few  commanding  summits  are  sufficient  to  enable  us 
to  determine  the  trend  of  the  mountain  range,  with- 
out going  to  the  labor  of  inspecting  every  peak,  so  a 
few  leading  points  will  be  enough  to  show  us  the  char- 
acter of  God. 

First    of  all,   then,    Christ  teaches    us  to    believe 


—  20  — 

that  God  is  a  spirit.  So  he  declared  in  his  conver- 
sation with  the  woman  at  the  well.  This  he  did  to 
show  her  that  God  could  not  be  localized,  or  re- 
stricted to  any  mountain  or  altar,  or  monopolized  by 
any  special  class.  He  is  a  spirit — this  is  his  essence — 
hence  he  is  invisible  and  everywhere  present,  in  office 
as  well  as  oratory,  in  work  as  well  as  worship.  I 
know  that  when  we  come  to  talk  of  spirit  we  come  to 
something  intangible  and  mysterious,  but  it  need  not, 
therefore,  be  unprofitable;  for  we  have  already  seen 
that  the  best  and  greatest  things  are  out  of  sight. 

When  our  Lord  wanted  to  give  even  as  learned  a 
man  as  Nicodemus  some  adequate  conception  of  God 
as  spirit,  he  made  use  of  a  very  simple  figure,  viz.  : 
that  of  the  wind  or  air,  and  we  can  do  no  better.  The 
air  is  all  about  us  and  in  us,  and  do  what  we  will  we 
cannot  get  away  from  it.  Though  "  w^e  cannot  tell 
whence  it  cometh  nor  whither  it  goeth,"  yet  wander 
where  we  may,  into  any  desolate  and  remote  corner  of 
earth,  whatever  else  may  be  wanting,  we  shall  still  be 
in  most  vital  connection  with  the  air.  Water  may 
fail,  food  may  fail,  but  we  are  always  and  everywhere 
sure  of  the  air. 

No  man  can  have  a  monopoly  of  it,  and  no  earthly 
power  can  restrict  it  to  any  little  corner.  We  pay  for 
our  light,  we  pay  for  our  land,  we  pay  for  our  fuel,  we 
even  pay  for  our  water  sometimes,  but  never  for  the 
air.  It  thrusts  itself  upon  all,  poor  and  rich,  bond 
and  free,  without  money  and  without  price.  And  not 
only  so,  but  there  is  no  end  to  the  supply.     Though 


—  21  — 

the  whole  world  is  consuming  it,  there  is  as  much  at 
the  close  of  day  as  at  the  beginning,  It  is  mysteri- 
ous, to  be  sure,  but  is  there  anything  more  real,  more 
essential?  Shut  the  air  out  of  your  lungs  for  three 
minutes  and  you  are  gone. 

Another  very  suggestive  thing  in  this  connection. 
Make  a  vessel  to  hold  water,  and  the  water  has  to  be 
brought  to  fill  it.  Prepare  fuel  and  set  it  in  order, 
and  the  fire  has  to  be  brought  to  kindle  it.  Set  your 
table  with  the  most  elegant  china,  or  silver,  but  the 
food  will  never  come  until  somebody  goes  after  it.  The 
air,  however,  is  far  more  accommodating.  All  you 
have  to  do  is  to  make  space  for  it  and  it  will  be  on 
hand . 

There  may  be  death  in  your  house.  It  may  be 
filled  with  poisonous  gases,  but  if  you  will  throw  it 
open,  if  you  will  lift  the  windows  and  swing  wide  the 
doors,  the  sweet,  pure  air  will  rush  in,  laden  with  life 
and  health.  You  need  not  be  an  expert  in  science 
and  understand  all  about  the  laws  of  ventilation  to  un- 
derstand that.  Just  trust  the  wind,  remove  the  bar- 
riers, let  it  come  in,  and  all  the  foul  exhalations  will 
make  way  for  it,  and  your  house  will  be  sweetened 
and  purified. 

So,  you  see,  when  the  Lord  teaches  us  that  God  is 
spirit,  and  then  uses  the  air  as  a  symbol  to  bring  the 
thought  down  to  the  level  of  our  comprehension,  he 
teaches  us  something  most  practical  and  beautiful. 
What  royal  bounty,  what  boundless  provision,  what 
fullness  and  freeness  it  suggests  for  all  the  wants  of 


—  22—     • 

our  nature.  As  spirit  be  touches  every  life,  he  presses 
upon  every  heart,  he  waits  for  us  to  make  room  for 
him  that  he  may  enter  in  to  cleanse  and  bless. 

Again,  Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  that  God's  atti- 
tude toward  this  sinful,  world  is  one  of  love.  In  words 
that  condense  into  a  single  sentence  the  whole  mar- 
row of  the  gospel  he  declares  that  "  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son  that  whoso- 
ever believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."  Instead  of  standing  apart  and  leav- 
ing the  world  to  meet  the  consequences  of  its  sin  and 
guilt,  his  whole  nature  went  out  toward  it  in  love  and 
pity.  He  sent  the  Son  of  his  bosom,  his  only  begot- 
ten Son,  that  "  the  world  through  him  might  be 
saved."  In  other  words,  the  eternal  God  himself  be- 
came flesh,  he  entered  into  vital  union  with  our  hu- 
manity, and  voluntarily  subjected  himself  to  shame 
and  sorrow  and  agony  and  crucifixion  and  the  dark, 
lonely  shadows  of  the  grave  to  convince  wandering, 
rebellious  men  of  his  love. 

It  is  an  old  story,  I  know,  but  it  will  bear  repeating, 
and  be  fresh  and  sweet  until  the  last  tempest-tossed 
wanderer  has  rounded  the  cape  and  cast  anchor  in  the 
Port  of  Peace.  Yes,  it  will  inspire  the  songs  of  glory 
while  the  ages  of  eternity  roll.  I  trust  I  may  never 
be  charged  with  neglecting  to  exalt  the  cross.  I  would 
lift  it  up  and  make  it  so  attractive  and.  inviting  that 
every  poor  sinner  might  be  induced  to  flee  to  its 
.shelter.  I  would  like  every  man  to  build  his  house 
on  the  Rock  that  was  riven,  and  from  Calvary's  sum- 


—  23  — 

mit  look  out  upon  the  contending  forces  of  this  sin- 
smitten  earth.  But  at  the  same  time  I  would  have 
every  man  remember  that  Jesus  Christ  taught  that 
back  of  Calvary,  back  of  that  stupendous  sacrifice,  is 
the  yearning,  infinite  love  of  God,  as  the  fountain  is 
back  of  the  stream.  To  make  this  truth  plain,  to  im- 
press it  upon  the  heart  of  mankind,  was  the  burden  of 
all  his  lessons  from  his  baptism  to  his  death.  This  is 
the  supreme,  the  crowning  thought  of  the  gospel,  that 
God's  love  is  the  spring  out  of  which  flows  salvation 
with  all  that  it  signifies. 

Passing  on  a  step,  let  me  say  in  the  next  place,  that 
Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  that  God  is  merciful.  This, 
of  course  is,  so  to  speak,  but  a  ray  of  his  love,  but  it 
will  help  us  to  look  at  it  separately.  In  the  course  of 
his  Sermon  on  the  Mount  he  said  to  his  disciples : 
"  Be  ye  therefore  merciful,  as  your  Father  also  is  mer- 
ciful." Again  and  again  our  Saviour  emphasizes  this 
trait  of  God's  character.  He  quotes  from  the  Old 
Testament  to  show  that  God  loves  merc}^  rather  than 
sacrifice.  He  sets  it  forth  in  the  parable  of  the  tal- 
ents, .and  with  a  pathos  and  beauty  that  will  never  die 
in  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Child.  He  teaches 
us  to  believe  that  God  delights  in  mercy,  and 
that  waves  of  joy  surge  through  his  being  when  he 
sees  a  sinner  returning  to  the  shelter  of  his  love.  He 
offers  it  to  all  as  freely  as  he  gives  the  sunshine  and 
the  air.  There  are  some  who  think  that  if  they  were 
in  the  church  and  professed  to  be  christians,  that  his 
mercy  would  be  vouchsafed;  but  as  they  are  only  sin- 


—  24  — 

liers,  only  aliens  and  wanderers,  they  feel  that  they 
dare  not  go  to  God.  They  keep  no  account  in  the 
bank  of  divine  compassion,  and  hence  they  conclude 
that  their  check  will  not  be  honored  if  they  present  it. 

But  they  can  make  no  greater  mistake.  He  delights 
in  mercy,  fellowmen,  and  does  not  wait  for  you  to  turn 
and  repent  before  he  loves  you.  His  love  ante-dates 
all  reformation,  all  regeneration.  There  is  not  a  thief, 
not  a  gambler,  not  a  drunkard,  not  a  soul  burning  up 
with  bad  passions,  who  has  not  a  right  to  look  up  out 
of  the  midst  of  his  guilt  and  say  "  God  help  me,  God 
be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner."  Your  vice,  your  in- 
iquity, your  poor  sin-smitten  life,  is  not  a  reason  for 
keeping  away  from  God.  Nay,  it  is  the  very  reason 
why  you  should  go  to  him,  just  as  a  man's  disease  is 
the  reason  why  he  should  seek  the  physician. 

No  matter  how  deep  the  guilt,  no  matter  how  black 
the  sin,  no  matter  how  low  a  man  may  have  fallen, 
he  need  never  despair  of  the  mercy  of  God.  In  the 
great  storm  that  raged  along  the  Atlantic  coast  a  year 
or  so  ago,  we  are  told  that  immense  rocks  were  car- 
ried up  the  beach  in  the  arms  of  the  waves  and  depos- 
ited far  inland  on  solid  ground.  So  I  care  not  how 
vile  a  sinner  a  man  may  be,  Christ  teaches  us  to  be- 
lieve that  the  waves  of  God's  mercy  can  carry  him 
right  up  to  the  safe,  immovable,  eternal  shore.  A 
story  is  told  of  a  Senator  of  Athens  who,  when  a  poor 
chased  sparrow  sought  refuge  in  his  bosom,  dashed  it 
from  him  to  the  ground  and  put  out  its  life;  where- 
upon it  was  ordered  by  the  Senate  that  he  should  die 


—  25  — 

himself.  They  wouldn't  have  a  man  of  that  temper 
in  their  lionorable  body.  Blessed  be  God,  no  poor, 
hunted  soul  that  seeks  shelter  in  his  bosom  will  ever 
be  cast  away.  ''  His  mercy  endureth  forever,"  and  if 
in  a  million  years  from  now  a  lost  soul  should  come 
imploring  that  mercy,  it  would  throw  its  sheltering 
wing  over  him  at  once,  and  the  armies  of  heaven 
w^ould  thrust  themselves  between  him  and  the  powers 
of  sin. 

We  trim  our  night-lamps,  w^e  watch  our  little  earth- 
lights,  lest  they  go  out  and  leave  us  in  the  dark;  but 
we  have  no  anxiety  about  the  sun  failing,  or  the  air 
becoming  exhausted.  So  we  need  not  fear  that  God's 
mercy  will  ever  fail.  Only  let  us  fear  that  our  dispo- 
sition to  ask  for  it  may  cease;  that  is  quite  possible. 
God  will  always  be  as  merciful  as  he  is  to-day,  but  his 
mercy  may  cease  to  be  available  by  and  by  through 
sin  and  neglect. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  hard  by  the  city  lies 
the  lake  with  all  its  boundless  supply  fed  by  moun- 
tain streams;  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  was 
there  before  ever  a  human  footprint  was  left  on  the 
plains,  and  will  be  there  ^  when  the  city's  glory 
shall  have  crumbled  to  the  dust;  yet  if  the  house- 
holder shuts  up  his  water-pipes  and  keeps  them  shut 
until  encrusted  with  rust  and  filled  with  sediment  so 
that  not  a  drop  of  water  can  get  through,  he  can- 
not blame  the  water.  The  fault  is  entirely  his  own. 
There  is  no  limit  to  the  water  supply,  but  he  has  cut 
himself  off  from  it,  and  must  face  the  consequences. 


—  26  — 

So  God's  mercy  is  boundless,  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting, but  it  cannot  come  into  the  soul  that  has  be- 
come thoroughly  hardened  by  sin  and  by  repeated  re- 
fusals to  listen  to  the  still,  small  voice.  Hence,  while 
the  thought  of  God's  mercy  is  full  of  hope  and  inspi- 
ration, the  thought  that  a  man  may  put  himself  be- 
yond its  reach  is  full  of  warning,  and  ought  to  arouse 
from  his  lethargy  every  indifferent,  careless  person 
here  to-day. 

Still  farther,  Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  that  God 
is  our  Father.  How  constantly  he  keeps  this  blessed  truth 
in  the  front  you  all  know.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
is  full  of  it.  Fifteen  times  it  is  referred  to  in  that  brief 
discourse,  and  each  reference  shows  us  the  Father  from 
a  somewhat  different  angle.  There  is  so  much  under 
this  head  that  might  be  said,  that  I  select  but  two  or 
three  points  for  special  emphasis. 

First,  Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  that  as  a  Father 
God  is  thoroughly  impartial.  "For  he  maketh  his  sun 
to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain 
on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust."  The  sun  takes  just 
as  much  pains  with  the  Canada  thistle  or  the  dog- 
weed  as  it  does  with  the  apple  tree  or  the  splendid  oak. 
It  is  just  as  friendly,  just  as  kind  to  the  cockle  as  to 
the  wheat ;  to  the  rank  mullen  stock  by  the  wayside 
as  to  the  grapevine  in  the  arbor.  It  shines  upon  the 
cotter's  cabin  with  no  less  bounty  than  upon  the 
prince's  palace.  The  sun  makes  no  distinctions;  there 
isn't  the  slightest  favoritism  about  it;  it  has  no  special 
regard  to  show  in  special  places.     On  it  shines,  diffus- 


—  27  — 

ing  itself  through  the  air,  and  pours  itself  without 
partiality  and  in  endless  abundance  upon  all  things. 
Thus  it  is  a  beautiful  emblem  of  our  Father  in  heaven 
who  "  maketh  the  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the 
good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust." 

He  does  this  as  a  Father.  The  true  parent  looks 
upon  his  children,  and  the  parental  feeling  overcomes 
any  differences  of  talent  or  appearance  there  may  be  in 
them.  One  may  be  more  gifted,  more  handsome, 
more  promising  than  another,  but  whatever  tincture 
of  favoritism  there  may  be  on  the  surface,  compre- 
hensively he  looks  upon  them  all  and  loves  them  all 
as  his  own  dear  children.  I  like  to  think  that  God  is 
impartial,  that  his  great  heart  flows  out  toward  me 
just  as  freely,  just  as  indiscriminately  as  toward  the 
most  exalted  saint  that  ever  lifted  a  prayer  to  heaven. 
He  loves  you  just  as  much  as  he  did  Paul,  and  John, 
and  Peter,  though  you  may  not  be  able  to  contain  as 
much  of  his  love  as  they  did.  The  receiving  vessel 
may  be  smaller.  The  currant  bush  cannot  absorb  as 
much  of  the  sunshine  as  the  wide-spreading  maple; 
but  each  gets  all  it  can  dispose  of.  So  God's  love  to 
you  and  me  is  limited  only  b}^  our  capacity  to  re- 
ceive. 

Most  sweetly  does  our  Lord  illustrate  the  impartiality 
of  the  Father's  love  in  the  parable  of  the  prodigal.  Both 
boys  were  loved  with  all  the  love  of  the  Father's  heart. 
The  boy  who  wandered  away  no  less  than  the  boy  that 
stayed  at  home.  One,  however,  was  loved  with  the 
love  of  compassion;  the   other  with  the  love  of  com- 


—  28  — 

placency.  But  any  interpretation  of  the  parable  that 
does  not  give  to  each  an  equal  place  in  the  Father's 
affection,  I  believe  to  be  wrong.  Christ  teaches  us  to 
believe  that  God  loves  the  sinner,  the  debauchee  down 
in  the  gutter,  not  one  whit  less  than  he  loves  the  Chris- 
tian kneeling  at  the  altar;  though  of  course  he  does 
not  and  he  cannot  take  equal  pleasure  in  them. 

Christ,  moreover,  teaches  us  to  believe  that  as  our 
Father  God  is  interested  in  every  phase  and  item  of 
our  experience.  "Consider  the  lilies."  "Behold  the 
fowls  of  the  air."  If  God  cares  for  them,  and  is 
interested  in  them,  think  not  that  he  will  neglect  you, 
"O,  ye  of  little  faith."  He  declares  that  the  ver}'  hairs 
of  your  heads  are  numbered.  I  know  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult for  us  to  realize  that  God  can  bestow  his  attention 
upon  such  little  things.  They  seem  too  trifling,  too 
utterly  beneath  him.  The  idea  that  the  eternal  God 
who  made  the  world  and  holds  the  stars  in  the 
hollow  of  his  hand,  should  not  only  stoop  to  think  of 
every  individual  man,  but  should  be  interested  in 
every  incident  of  his  experience,  and  that  his  sympa- 
thy attends  every  step  of  human  life — that  idea  when 
you  look  at  it  in  the  light  of  his  greatness  does  seem 
extravagant.     It  seems  out  of  the  question. 

But  when  we  reflect  that  he  is  our  Father,  that  he 
sustains  to  us  the  the  parental  relation,  we  can  see 
that  it  must  be  so.  We  all  know  how  a  kind  earthly 
parent  abandons  himself  to  his  little,  toddling  child. 
No  matter  how  dignified  he  may  be  in  society,  no  matter 
how  stately  and  cultured  and  self-poised,  one  appeal  of 


—  29  — 

that  little  darling  breaks  him  all  up,  and  he  is  down 
on  the  floor  in  an  instant,  as  much  absorbed  in  the 
trifles  of  the  child  as  he  was  awhile  ago  in  the  greater 
affairs  of  the  wide  world.  Well,  now  take  that  parent- 
hood and  enlarge  it  away  on  all  sides  until  it  becomes 
infinite,  yet  retaining  all  its  parental  instincts,  and  I 
think  you  can  understand  how  God  may  have  an  in- 
terest in  you,  and  in  all  your  little  trials  and  difficul- 
ties. That  he  has  is  most  clearly  taught  by  our  Lord, 
and  I  would  have  every  one  lay  the  sweet  lesson  to 
heart  and  take  it  out  into  the  din  and  rush  and  battle 
of  life.  You  are  his  child,  however  lowly,  however 
sinful  and  unworthy;  and  as  the  mountain  puts  its 
strong  shoulder  under  the  modest,  delicate  flower  as 
freely  as  under  the  tall  pine,  so  God  carries  in  his 
bosom  the  feeblest  as  well  as  the  strongest. 

I  realize  that  I  have  only  touched  my  subject  at  two 
or  three  points,  but  time  presses,  and  I  must  stop. 
God  is  spirit,  God  is  love,  God  is  Father.  Thus  he  is 
.the  author  of  our  existence,  the  quickener  of  our 
moral  nature,  the  Saviour  of  our  souls.  In  him  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being.  Has  he  not, 
then,  some  claim  upon  our  lives?  When  the  voice  no 
longer  needs  the  singer,  when  the  ray  can  shine  with- 
out the  lamp,  when  the  stream  can  flow  without  the 
fountain,  we  sliall  be  independent  of  God,  but  not  till 
then.  In  view,  therefore,  of  what  he  is,  in  view  of  the 
life  he  gives  and  sustains,  in  view  of  all  his  fatherly 
care  and  tenderness,  shall  we  not  acknowledge  his 
claims  and  give  him  henceforth  the  homage  of  our 
hearts? 


WHAT   CHRIST    TEACHES    US   TO    BELIEVE 
ABOUT    HIMSELF. 


"  Whom  makest  thou  thyself  ?"—^o/iw,  8:5S 


Some  forty  years  ago,  when  gold  was  first  discovered 
in  California,  and  the  excitement  swept  over  the 
country  like  a  contagion,  men  were  not  content  with 
the  rumors  and  reports  that  filled  the  air,  but  away 
they  started,  some  across  the  mountains,  some  by  the 
way  of  Panama  and  some  around  Cape  Horn,  to  see 
the  famous  El  Dorado  for  themselves.  What  they 
read  and  heard  only  kindled  their  desire  and  filled 
them  with  a  determination  never  to  stop  till  they  got 
to  headquarters  and  saw  with  their  own  eyes  and  held 
in  their  own  hands  the  precious  dust.  Speaking  after 
the  manner  of  the  world  that  was  wise,  for  men  cer- 
tainly cannot  accumulate  earthly  riches  by  feeding 
upon  current  stories  and  popular  talk.  Hearsay  may 
be  interesting  and  even  thrilling,  but  nobody  is.  ever 
enriched  by  it. 

Now,  if  men  would  only  act  toward  spiritual  things 
as  the  gold-seekers  did  toward  things  secular  ;    if  they 


—  31  — 

would  but  say, ''  Yes,  we  are  thankful  for  all  we  have 
heard  and  read  about  Christ;  we  are  grateful  for  every 
description  we  have  seen  of  him,  but  we  can  never 
rest  until  we  see  the  original  and  hear  what  he  has  to 
say  about  himself."  If  people  would  thus  insist 
upon  going  to  the  very  heart  and  center  of  Christian- 
ity at  once,  instead  of  stopping  at  literary  and  ecclesi- 
astical half-way  houses,  as  they  are  too  much  inclined 
to  do,  the  world  would  have  a  different  story  to  re- 
hearse, and  its  pulse  would  beat  with  higher  hopes 
and  loftier  ambitions. 

An  artificial  flower  may  be  very  good  as  an  imita- 
tion, and  there  may  be  a  certain  sort  of  beauty  about 
it,  but  to  form  any  true  appreciation  of  a  real  rose  you 
must  go  to  the  garden  where  it  blooms  in  all  the  sweet 
loveliness  of  nature.  In  like  manner,  to  form  any  ade- 
quate conception  of  Him,  who  is  the  Rose  of  Sharon 
and  the  Lily  of  the  Valley,  we  must  look  at  him  as  he 
blooms  in  the  garden  of  the  gospel.  The  great  diffi- 
culty with  multitudes  is  that  they  are  too  prone  to  be 
content  with  copies  and  reports  and  imitations.  They 
are  satisfied  to  take  their  theological  furniture  as  it 
comes  to  them  from  the  factory,  all  carved  and  pol- 
ished and  painted,  without  going  to  the  trouble  of 
pushing  back  to  the  primitive  tree  out  of  which  it 
came.  The  true  student,  however,  the  sincere  in- 
quirer, can  never  rest  until  he  gets  as  near  as  possible 
to  the  roots  of  things. 

This  morning  we  are  to  take  a  look,  here  and  there, 
at  what  Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  concerning  him- 


—  32  — 

self.  Not  in  the  mood  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
in  no  spirit  of  carping  criticism,  are  we  to  ask:  "  Whom 
makest  Thou  thyself?"  but  as  devout  inquirers  we 
come,  I  trust,  to  learn  from  his  own  lips  who  he  is 
and  what  relation  he  claims  to  sustain  toward  men. 
We  strike  out  the  elements  of  time  and  distance,  and 
for  a  few  minutes  we  are  to  imagine  ourselves  in  old 
Judea,  following  him  from  place  to  place  in  the  com- 
pany of  his  disciples,  sitting  at  his  feet,  drinking  in 
his  words,  receiving  his  instruction ;  and,  from  what 
we  see  and  hear,  we  are  to  form  our  opinions  as  to 
what  he  makes  himself  to  be. 

At  the  very  outset  we  are  profoundly  impressed.  He 
is  so  calm,  so  gentle,  so  self-controlled.  Never  for  a 
moment  does  he  yield  to  excitement.  No  matter 
what  turbulence  there  may  be  about  him  his  tran- 
quility is  always  the  same.  He  is  solemn,  like  one 
charged  with  infinite  responsibility ;  as  dignified  as  a 
king,  yet  as  approachable  as  a  little  child.  The  dew 
of  youth  is  on  his  brow,  while  at  the  same  time  he  has 
all  the  maturity  and  wisdom  of  age.  Sometimes  he 
comes  so  near  that  the  Tveary  head  is  tempted  to  recline 
upon  his  bosom.  Then  in  a  moment  he  is  far  away, 
as  if  in  communion  with  other  worlds.  Now  men 
shrink  from  him  as  from  a  consuming  fire,  and  anon, 
they  are  attracted  to  him  as  to  a  garden  of  delights. 
Now  his  eye  weeps  in  pity,  and  now  it  flashes  with 
awful  indignation.  Now  his  voice  is  full  of  tears  and 
compassion,  and,  in  its  accent,  poor  sinners  hear  the 
music  of  hope.     Now  it  pierces  like  a  two-edged  sword. 


We  notice  that  he  is  loved  as  never  man  was  loved, 
and  hated  with  all  the  malignity  of  hell.  There  is  no  af- 
fectation, no  putting  on  airs.  We  feel  that  he  is  truth 
itself,  and  so  we  go  with  him  to  see  if  from  his  own 
words  and  actions  we  can  make  him  out. 

We  learn  very  early  that  he  puts  himself  forward 
as  the  Great  Teacher.  He  sits  down  on  the  hill-side, 
and,  as  we  range  ourselves  beneath  him  on  the  green 
slopes,  he  begins  his  incomparable  lessons.  Beatitude 
after  beatitude  drops  from  his  lips  with  such  simple 
eloquence  that  we  are  riveted  to  the  spot.  Then  he 
calls  us  the  salt  of  the  earth,  the  light  of  the  world, 
and  carries  our  poor  human  life  up  into  most  exalted 
meanings,  and  shows  us  what  vast  possibilities  lie 
along  our  path.  Under  such  talk  our  hearts  beat 
faster  and  our  whole  nature  expands,  like  a  flower 
wooed  and  kissed  by  the  sun. 

Passing  from  that  he  begins  to  talk  about  the  law 
and  the  prophets.  He  assures  us  that  they  were  not 
temporary  expedients  brought  forward  to  help  the 
world  over  a  tight  place,  but  that  they  are  to  stand 
until  heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  and  that  he  came 
to  fulfil  them  and  make  them  glorious.  He  takes  the 
local  and  broadens  it  away  into  the  universal ;  takes 
love,  which  was  a  very  narrow  and  one-sided  affair, 
and  throws  it  around  enemies  and  haters  and  perse- 
cutors and  all  the  sons  of  men,  as  the  sun  throws  its 
light  over  the  evil  and  the  good.  Thus  he  leads  us 
on,  talking  about  alms-giving  and  prayer,  about  enter- 
ing in  at  the  strait  gate  and  laying  up  treasure  in 


—  34  — 

heaven;  about  judging  men  by  their  fruits  and  not 
by  their  words,  and  reaches  the  climax  of  it  all  by  de- 
claring that  the  man  who  builds  upon  these  sayings 
of  his  builds  upon  a  rock  that  never  can  be  shaken. 
We  are  sorry  to  have  him  close  so  soon,  for  we  fain 
would  hear  more. 

But  now,  descending  with  him  from  the  mountain, 
we  are  even  more  charmed  and  astonished  at  what  we 
see  in  the  plain.  Here  we  behold  him  setting  himself 
forth  as  tht  Great  Physician.  This  brings  him  a  little 
closer.  We  look  and  behold  he  cleanses  a  leper,  ac- 
tually takes  the  loathsome  creature  b}^  the  hand;  no- 
body else  on  earth  would  do  it,  but  he  does  it  with 
more  than  a  mother's  tenderness,  and  that  touch 
thrills  the  poor  man  with  life  and  health  and  hope, 
and  fills  all  his  sky  with  light.  He  starts  with  the 
worst  possible  case  first.  After  that  we  are  not  sur- 
prised to  see  him  heal  palsy  and  fever  and  all  manner 
of  disease.  When  we  see  the  joy  that  springs  up  in 
his  track  over  banished  pain  and  restored  strength 
there  comes  to  our  mind  an  old  passage  of  scripture, 
and  with  Matthew  we  say,  "  Himself  took  our  infirmi- 
ties and  bore  our  sicknesses." 

But  we  see  more.  He  not  only  heals  the  body  but 
the  mind.  He  casts  out  devils.  He  cleanses  the  soul. 
On  the  rocky  shore  of  Galilee  we  saw  him  deal  with 
a  man  who  had  his  dwelling  among  the  tombs,  an 
exceeding  fierce  man,  the  terror  of  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood, who,  in  his  paroxysms  of  madness,  cut  him- 
self with   stones  and  uttered  the  most  hideous  cries. 


-35- 

But  we  heard  Jesus  say  :  "  Come  out  of  him  thou  un- 
clean spirit,"  and  the  effect  was  instantaneous  and 
marvelous.  At  once  his  mental  balance  was  restored. 
At  once  the  wild  man,  whom  everybody  had  feared, 
was  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind  and  as  tractable  as 
a  child.  Thus  this  wonderful  man  makes  himself  not 
only  master  of  physical  but  of  spiritual  disorders  as 
well. 

As  we  continue  in  his  company  we  very  soon  learn 
that  his  relation  to  man  is  more  intimate,  more  prec- 
ious and  blessed  still.  One  day  at  Jerusalem  he 
strikes  a  higher  and  nobler  key  than  any  he  has  struck 
yet.  He  calls  himself  the  Good  Shepherd.  Ashe  un- 
folds that  idea  in  one  of  his  matchless  talks,  we  are 
more  impressed  than  ever  with  the  tenderness,  the 
sympathy,  the  absolute  self-forgetfulness  of  this  Jesus. 
We  hear  him  say  that  he  is  going  to  lay  down  his 
life  for  the  sheep.  We  don't  exactly  understand  it, 
but  we  know  that  it  is  just  what  the  true  shepherd 
often  does.  And  as  he  hints  of  other  sheep  which  are 
not  of  this  fold,  our  vision  seems  to  enlarge,  and  we 
get  glimpses  of  great  flocks  which,  in  some  favored 
day,  are  going  to  follow  him  and  lie  down  at  noon  in 
the  green  pastures.  To  be  sure  our  minds  are  clouded, 
but  the  clouds  are  luminous,  with  a  strange  light 
breaking  through  which  speaks  of  bright  skies  and 
glories  to  come. 

On  another  occasion,  w4th  publicans  and  sinners 
all  around  him,  with  the  fallen,  the  outcast,  the  wan- 
dering, the  homeless,  looking  up  into  his  face  through 


—  86  — 

their  tears  and  despair,  he  becomes  ahiiost  dramatic 
as  he  tells  what  a  great-hearted  shepherd  does  when  he 
misses  one  sheep  from  the  fold.  He  leaves  the  ninety 
and  nine,  goes  out  over  the  sharp  rocks  and  through 
stinging  briars,  and  never  stops  till  he  finds  it.  Then, 
instead  oi  driving  the  poor  lame,  wounded  thing  back, 
he  lifts  it  to  his  shoulders,  carries  it  home  rejoicing, 
and  is  so  glad  that  he  calls  in  all  his  friends  and 
neighbors  to.  rejoice  with  him.  When  the  story  is 
ended  we  know  that  Jesus  himself  is  the  great-hearted 
shepherd. 

His  talk  is  getting  to  be  pathetic,  and  as  it  grows 
in  pathos  it  grows  in  significance,  until  pretty  soon 
the  humble  teacher,  the  tender  physician,  the  good 
shepherd  likens  himself  to  a  father,  running  out  with 
eager  haste  to  meet  the  returning  prodigal,  taking 
him  to  his  heart  without  one  chiding  word,  and  fill- 
ing all  the  house  with  jubilee  because  the  erring  boy 
is  home  once  more.  While  we  wonder  what  it  all 
means,  and  are  more  and  more  amazed  at  the  audacity 
of  his  claims,  there  crowds  upon  us  the  thought  that  all 
the  time,  little  by  little,  he  has  been  leading  us  up  to 
the  sublime,  the  inspiring  conception  that  he  is  more 
than  teacher,  more  than  physician,  more  than  shep- 
herd, more  than  father  even.  In  one  word,  that  he  is 
the  saviour  of  sinners.  This  is  what  he  has  been  pre- 
paring us  for  all  along. 

Saviour. — That  is  the  name  that  gathers 
into  itself  and  explains  every  other  name.  Now 
we    know   what   he   meant    when  he    talked    about 


—  37  — 

the  safet}^  of  the  man  who  built  upon  the 
Rock.  Now  we  know  what  he  was  seeking  to 
impress  when  he  cleansed  the  leper  and  *cast  out 
devils,  and  called  himself  Teacher  and  Shepherd. 
Now  it  is  clear  enough  what  he  intended  to  convey 
when  he  spoke  about  healing  the  broken  hearted, 
preaching  deliverance  to  the  captives,  recovering  of 
sight  to  the  blind,  and  setting  at  liberty  them  that  are 
bruised.  Now  we  understand  what  he  meant  when 
he  said  :  "I  am  the  door;"  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth 
and  the  life;"  "no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
by  me." 

In  every  talk,  in  every  stor}^  in  every  illustration, 
he  was  giving  us  hints  of  his  Saviour-hood.  His 
cures,  his  compassions,  his  miracles,  his  nights  of 
prayer  and  days  of  toil,  all  were  but  scattered  rays 
of  which  this  is  the  sun.  All  were  but  fragments,  a 
few  drops  as  it  were  of  the  one  great  fountain  of  re- 
deeming love.  We  take  his  several  sayings,  that  he 
"has  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins."  "  Thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee;"  "The  Son  of  Man  is  come  to  seek  and 
save  that  which  was  lost."  "The  Son  of  Man  came  not 
to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister  and  to  give  his  life 
a  ransom  for  many."  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from 
the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me,"  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  believeth  on  me  hath 
everlasting  life."  We  take  these  sayings  of  his,  and 
scores  of  others  of  like  import  might  be  quoted,  and, 
putting  them  all  together,  he  leaves  us  no  room  to 
doubt  that  he  makes  himself  to  be  the  only  Saviour  of 


—  38  — 

sinners.  To  this  postion  we  are  bound  to  come  or  dis- 
card every  chapter  of  the  gospel  story.  He  is  either 
Saviour  or  nothing. 

But  by  what  power  and  authority  does  he  save  f  He 
takes  special  pains  to  set  our  minds  at  rest  on  this 
point.  We  hear  him  say  again  and  again  in  terms 
which  cannot  be  misunderstood  that  he  is  God.  In 
the  same  talk  in  which  he  called  himself  the  Good 
Shepherd  he  said:  "I  and  my  Father  are  one." 
Standing  under  the  very  shadow  of  the  cross  he  says 
to  poor  Philip,  who  felt  that  if  he  could  only  see  the 
Father  he  would  be  satisfied  :  "He  that  hath  seen  me 
hath  seen  the  Father."  Jehovah,  the  Hebrew  name 
for  the  Eternal,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  apply  to  him- 
self. Thus,  "  Before  Abraham  was,  I  am.''  One  day, 
entering  into  conversation  with  the  woman  at  the 
well,  she  said  :  "  I  know  that  Messias  cometh,"  and, 
quick  as  a  flash,  he  replied:  "  I  that  speak  unto  thee 
am  He."  Again,  because  Peter  confesses  him  to  be 
the  Christ — the  Son  of  the  living  God — he  blesses  him 
and  bestows  upon  him  peculiar  honor.  It  is  plain; 
therefore,  that  he  makes  himself  to  be  God,  and  it  is, by 
virtue  of  his  divinity,  that  he  is  the  Saviour,  for  only 
the  divine  can  save. 

But  if  he  teaches  us  to  believe  that  he  is  God  he 
is  no  less  emphatic  in  teaching  us  to  beleive  that  he  is 
man.  He  is  born  of  woman,  grows  up  in  a  Judean 
home,  works  in  the  carpenter  shop,  toils  and  suff'ers, 
hungers  and  thirsts,  eats  and  sleeps,  labors  and  grows 
weary,  just  like  us,  and  because  he  is  like  us — bone  of 
our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh. 


And  his  humanity  is  just  as  essential  to  his 
Saviour-hood  as  his  divinity.  God  the  infinite,  God 
the  eternal,  filling  all  space  with  his  presence,  lies  ut- 
terly beyond  our  utmost  thought.  To  know  him  and 
love  him  he  must  descend  to  the  level  of  our  compre- 
hension. If  he  loves  us  we  must  see  his  love  so  em- 
bodied that  we  can  understand  it.  Had  he  written 
his  love  upon  the  sun  and  blazed  it  from  every  star 
and  thundered  it  in  the  boom  of  the  ocean,  you  and  I 
never  could  have  grasped  it  until  we  saw  it  living  and 
acting,  suffering  and  sympathizing,  in  a  human  life. 
So,  blessed  be  his  name,  he  stooped  to  our  condition. 
He  met  us  on  the  plain  of  our  own  being.  He  emp- 
tied himself  of  his  glory  and  became  manifest  in  the 
flesh. 

See  how  his  two-fold  nature  is  constantly  empha- 
sized in  the  Gospel.  As  man  he  feels  the  pangs  of 
hunger;  as  God  he  feeds  five  thousand  in  the  desert 
and  calls  himself  "the  bread  which  cometh  down  from 
heaven."  As  man  his  lips  are  parched  with  thirst;  as 
God  he  stands  up  and  cries :  "If  any  man  thirst  let 
him  come  unto  me  and  drink."  As  man  he  is  weary 
and  has  not  where  to  lay  his  head.  As  God  he  says  : 
"Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  As  man  he  sleeps  on 
the  hinder  part  of  a  fishing  boat;  as  God,  at  the  ap- 
peal of  the  disciples,  he  rises,  rebukes  the  wind  and 
the  sea,  and  there  is  a  great  calm.  Thus,  his  own 
wordsleave  us  no  room  to  doubt  that  he  wants  us  to 
believe  that  he  is  both  God  and  man.     That  in  him 


—  40  — 

divinity  and  humanity  are  mysteriously  blended  in 
two  distinct  natures,  but  in  perfect  unity. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  understand  it,  but  in  nature  I 
find  an  analogy  that  helps  me  to  accept  it.  The  Gulf 
Stream,  for  example,  is  a  great  river  flowing  through 
the  Atlantic.  It  is  so  clearly  defined  that  men  have 
traced  it  and  mapped  out  its  course.  No  matter  how 
the  winds  may  blow  it  never  loses  its  identity.  There 
it  is;  always  setting  in  the  same  direction,  always  do- 
ing the  same  work,  as  faithful  as  the  stars.  And  yet, 
the  ocean  and  the  Gulf  Stream  are  not  two  but  one. 
I  can't  understand  it.  It  is  a  mystery  to  me  why 
they  don't  mix  and  become  absolutely  lost,  one  in 
the  other.  I  only  know  that  there  they  are,  always 
two  and  always  one,  the  Gulf  Stream  in  the  ocean 
and  the  ocean  in  the  Gulf  Stream.  So  it  is  with  the 
dual  nature  of  our  Lord,  in  which  I  devoutly  and  joy- 
fully beleive,  because  he  himself  has  so  plainly  set  it 
forth.  He  is  thus  in  God  and  God  in  him,  in  order 
that  his  combined  divinity  and  humanity  he  may  be 
the  Saviour  of  Sinners.  This  does  not  clear  away  the 
mystery,  but  it  does  give  us  the  reason  for  the  fact, 
God  was  manifested,  says  John,  "  that  he  might  take 
away  our  sins."  In  other  words,  that  he  might  be  our 
Saviour.  And  this  pre-eminently  is  what  he  makes 
himself  to  be — the  Saviour. 

And  now,  having  followed  him  thus  far,  having 
listened  to  his  wondrous  words  and  startling  claims, 
let  us  continue  with  him  to  the  end  and  see  how  this 
devoted  life  is  going  to  pass   away.     We   notice   that 


—  41  — 

his  face  grows  more  solemn,  that  his  earnestness  be- 
comes more  intense,  that  his  love  for  sinners  seems  to 
burn  with  a  whiter  heat,  that  his  speech  gleams  like 
a  pure  river,  holding  in  its  bosom  thrilling  images 
and  reflections  of  the  sky,  and  that  his  words  broaden 
away  into  meanings  that  embrace  all  the  future.  We 
have  had  hints  of  it  before,  but  here,  in  these  closing 
days,  he  makes  the  astounding  declaration  that  he  is 
the  contemporary  of  all  ages.  He  tells  us  that  it  is 
expedient  for  him  to  go,  but  that  he  will,  neverthe- 
less, be  with  us  always.  He  tells  us  that  he  is 
going  to  prepare  a  place  for  us  and  that  he  will  come 
again.  He  tells  us  about  the  judgment,  about  sitting 
on  the  throne  of  his  glor}'  and  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven.  He  tells  us  that  all  nations  shall  be 
gathered  before  him  and  that  he  will  separate  them 
one  from  another  as  the  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep 
from  the  goats.  He  tells  us  of  falling  stars,  of  a  dark- 
ened sun,  of  the  moon  withholding  her  light,  of  the 
powers  of  heaven  being  shaken,  of  the  se^i  and  waves 
roaring,  and,  as  he  draws  the  graphic  picture,  he 
cries  :  ''  Be  ready  ;  watch  and  pray,  for  in  such  an 
hour  as  ye  think  not  the  Son  of  Man  cometh." 

Hardly,  however,  have  the  words  fallen  from  his 
lips  when  there  transpires  the  strangest,  saddest  scene 
of  all.  I  tremble  to  touch  the  immortal  tragedy  with 
my  poor  syllables,  lest  I  should  spoil  it.  The  Teacher 
is  arrested  and  th^  school  is  closed.  The  Great  Phy- 
sician is  snatched  away  from  his  God-like  work  by 
the  cruel  hands  of  human  hate.     The  Good  Shepherd 


—  42  — 

is  a  prisoner  and  the  sheep  are  scattered.  We  look 
and  behold  he  stands  there  before  his  accusers,  quiet 
as  a  statue,  firm  as  a  rock,  yet  unresisting  as  a  lamb. 
We  look  again,  and  they  spit  upon  him  and  scourge 
him  and  mock  him  and  turn  his  sorrows  and  agonies 
into  holiday  joy.  Once  more  we  look,  and,  through 
our  blinding  tears,  we  see  the  fainting,  bleeding,  ex- 
hausted sufferer  staggering  away  toward  Calvary. 

Now  the  place  of  skulls  is  reached,  and  now,  while 
they  drive  the  nails  and  thrust  the  grim,  cruel  cross 
into  the  stony  ground,  there  goes  up  such  a  prayer  as 
never  before  or  since  fell  on  the  ear  of  heaven. 
"  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do." 

Up  goes  the  accursed  instrument  of  torture,  and  be- 
hold an  awful  gloom  loads  down  the  sky  with  dark- 
ness. The  solid  rocks  throb  and  crack  as  if  they  feel 
the  pain  of  the  tremendous  hour.  The  great  clouds, 
hanging  low,  seem  to  be  filled  with  innumerable  eyes 
peering  through,  and  in  the  moaning  winds  we  seem 
to  hear  the  sighs  of  invisible  throngs  as  they  look 
upon  the  fearful  tragedy.  Then  a  cry  of  orphanage — 
of  infinite  desolation — pierces  the  burdened  air,  to  be 
followed  in  a  little  while  by  a  ringing  cry  of  victory. 
"  It  is  finished,"  and  the  tragedy  is  over. 

'*  Love's  redeeming  work  is  done, 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won." 

.  Now  the  light  Gomes  back;  now  the  blue  heavens 
smile  again  upon  the  earth,  and,  in  a  day  or  two,  this 
very  Christ  who  was  slain  stands  yonder  on  a  moun- 


i 


—  43  — 

tain,  just  as  he  stood  in  the  beginning,  issuing  his 
commands  like  a  king,  speaking  great  words  of  love, 
saying  good-by  to  his  disciples,  when  lo !  stepping 
into  a  chariot  of  cloud,  he  vanishes  from  mortal  sight, 
until  the  end  of  the  age,  when  he  shall  come  again  as 
he  went.     Even  so  come  Lord  Jesus. 

Now,  does  anyone  ask :  "  Lord,  whom  makest  thou 
thyself?"  With  that  life  spread  out  before  you  the 
answer  must  be  plain.  By  all  the  lessons  he  taught, 
by  all  the  burdens  he  carried,  by  all  the  broken 
hearts  he  healed,  by  all  the  captives  he  delivered,  by 
all  the  wanderers  he  reclaimed,  by  all  the  victories  he 
won,  he  teaches  us  to  believe  that  he  is  the  Saviour  of 
men. 

And,  I  presume,  we  all  do  believe  it  in  a  general 
sort  of  a  way.  But  I  would  like  every  one  of  us  to 
make  it  personal.  I  would  like  every  one  of  us  to 
say:  "This  Jesus,  who  raises  the  dead  and  conquers 
the  grave,  and  cleanses  the  leper,  and  carries  people 
in  his  arms  when  the  road  is  rough  and  the  hill  is 
steep,  and  the  wind  is  sharp  and  the  night  is  dark, 
and  welcomes  poor  sinners  to  his  breast.  This  Jesus, 
so  kingly,  yet  so  tender;  so  almighty,  yet  so  gentle; 
so  divine,  yet  so  human;  this  Jesus  whose  heart  burst 
and  poured  out  its  sacred  blood  for  me;  this  Jesus  is 
mine.  I  cannot,  I  will  not,  live  without  him.  He  is 
all  the  God  I  want.  I  look  no  higher,  for  beside  him 
there  is  none  else,  and  from  this  day  I  take  him  to  be 
my  Saviour.  Who  among  you  will  say  that  and 
come  with  us  two  weeks  from  to-day  to  the  commun- 


—  44  — 

ion,  to  joyfully  confess  him  before  men  and    publicly 
take  your  stand  beneath  the  banner  of  the  cross  ? 

You  can  easily  find  fault  with  us  who  profess  his 
name.  We  give  you  far  too  much  ground  for  criti- 
cism. We  know,  and  sorrowfully  confess,  that  our 
lives  are  fitful,  spasmodic,  unsteady,  inconsistent, 
sometimes  true  and  sometimes  false.  These  lower 
lights  burn  dimly  and  uncertainly,  and  sometimes 
seem  to  flicker  out  entirely.  You  can  easily  find  fault 
with  the  church.  She  humbly  owns  that  she  does 
not  begin  to  be  what  she  ought  to  be.  She  goes  too 
much  with  the  world  and  gets  her  feet  blistered  and 
her  robes  stained  by  walking  in  forbidden  paths.  Her 
wheat  is  not  free  from  chafif.  Her  gold  is  mixed  with 
alloy.  Her  noblest  works  are  tainted  with  selfish- 
ness. But,  "  what  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  "  Have  you 
any  fault  to  find  with  him?  Oh,  I  would,  that" 
you  might  be  so  impressed  with  his  beauty,  his  pur- 
ity, his  Saviour-hood,  as  to  step  over  the  line  of  in- 
difference, of  fear,  of  hesitancy,  and  make  his  people 
your  people,  his  aims  your  aims,  his  life  your  life,  and 
his  glory  your  glory. 


® 


WHAT   CHRIST  TEACHES  AS  TO  THE  HOLY 
SPIRIT. 


John,  16:  7-15. 


While  the  Holy  Spirit  is  very  frequently  referred  to 
in  the  Old  Testament,  his  person  and  work  are  dwelt 
upon  with  special  fulness  in  the  New.  Every  careful 
reader  of  the  gospels  and  epistles  knows  how  constantly 
the  Spirit  is  spoken  o,f  in  one  relation  or  another,  and 
especially  from  the  time  of  the  Savior's  farewell  talk 
with  his  disciples  in  the  upper  room  on  to  the  end  of  the 
volume.  A  distinguished  student  of  the  Scriptures  has 
called  our  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  whole  move- 
ment of  the  Bible  is  toward  spirituality.  We  see  it  in 
the  order  of  creation,  moving  up  step  by  step,  until  it 
culminates  in  man.  We  see  it  in  the  Levitical  ritual, 
and  in  offerings  and  sacrifices,  in  types  and  shadows, 
which  have  their  fulfillment  in  Jesus  Christ.  We  see 
it  in  the  order  of  the  gospels,  beginning  with  the 
matter-of-fact  Matthew  and  closing  with  the  heavenly- 
minded  John,  who  keeps  us  all  the  time  on  the  sun- 


—  46  — 

lighted  summits.  Hence  it  seems  as  natural  that  the 
Scriptures  should  reach  their  culmination  in  the  dis- 
pensation of  the  Spirit  as  that  the  bud  should  enfold 
into  the  flower. 

I  am  well  aware  that  when  we  come  to  talk  about 
the  Holy  Spirit  we  come  to  something  that  is  intangi- 
ble and  mysterious;  something  which  to  many  minds 
seems  too  vague  and  shadowy  to  be  of  any  interest  and 
importance,  and  this,  perhaps,  is  the  reason  why  the 
subject  is  so  often  passed  over  in  silence.  But  w^hat- 
ever  may  be  our  feeling  as  to  the  matter,  we  are  bound 
to  admit  that  our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  made  a  great 
deal  of  it;  that  they  considered  the  Holy  Spirit's  pres- 
ence the  one  thing,  above  all  others,  indispensable. 

To  be  sure,  we  cannot  explain  the  influences  of  the 
Spirit;  they  are  past  finding  out.  But  so  are  the 
movements  of  the  wind.  We  see  its  effects,  we  hear 
the  sound  tliereof,  but  cannot  tell  whence  it  cometh 
nor  whither  it  goeth.  But  the  influence  of  the  Spirit 
is  no  more  mysterious  than  a  thousand  other  influ- 
ences. I  do  not  know  how  one  man  can  so  speak  or 
sing  as  to  stir  to  tears,  or  soothe  and  (^uiet  the  soul  of 
another.  I  do  not  know  how  strains  of  music  can  take 
hold  of  a  man  and  lift  him  up  into  an  atmosphere  of 
hope  and  joy;  or  how  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  in 
autumn,  or  the  sighing  of  the  trees  under  the  touch  of 
the  north  wind  fills  him  with  the  feeling  of  melan- 
choly. I  do  not  know  how  certain  emotions  in  me  carl 
awaken  similar  emotions  in  you.  What  is  it  that 
moves  us  to  weep  with  those  who  weep  and  rejoice  with 


-47- 

those  who  rejoice?  How  does  a  mother  pour  her  affec- 
tion upon  the  heart  of  her  child?  How  is  it  that  some 
force  from  the  outer  world  carries  us  away  down  into 
the  valley  of  gloom  to-day,  and  another  force  carries 
us  up  to  the  hill  of  light  to-morrow?  We  cannot  tell. 
We  only  know  that  th^se  things  are  so.  But  if  these 
secret  forces  of  nature  and  life  should  so  affect  us  why 
should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  that  God 
should  move  upon  us  by  his  Holy  Spirit?  For  my 
part  it  seems  most  unreasonable  that  men  who  live 
and  move  and  have  their  being  in  mystery  should 
insist  upon  having  all  mystery  cleared  away  when 
they  come  to  religion.  I  cannot  help  but  feel  that  it  is 
done  too  often  simply  as  a  pretext  for  standing  out 
against  the  claims  of  the  Savior  of  the  world.  In 
considering  what  Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  con- 
cerning the  Holy  Spirit  we  shall  proceed  in  the  fol- 
lovv'ing  order:  First — What  the  Spirit  is.  Second — 
Where  the  Spirit  is,  and  Third —  What  the  Spirit  does. 
1.  First,  then.  What  is  the  Spirits  I  have  just  been 
using  the  word  influence,  and  the  word  force,  and 
these  terms,  especially  the  first,  are  often  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  Holy  Ghost.  So  often,  indeed,  that 
I  fear  some  of  us  are  misled  by  them.  There  is  nothing 
more  common,  for  example,  than  to  hear  Christian 
people,  of  many  years  standing  even,  use  the  imper- 
sonal pronoun  it  in  referring  to  the  Spirit.  This 
arises,  no  doubt,  from  the  habit  of  regarding  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  an  influence  or  an  emanation  from  God,  and 
not  as  an  actual  person. 


—  48  — 

But  to  get  rid  of  all  confusion  on  this  point  it  is 
only  necessary  to  turn  to  the  language  of  our  Lord. 
According  to  Christ,  the  Holy  Spirit  "  reproves," 
"  guides,"  "  teaches,"  "  comforts,"  "  leads  into  all  truth," 
"testifies,"  "brings  to  remembrance"  and  "endues  with 
power."  To  say  these  things  of  an  influence  would  of 
course  be  absurd.  Besides,  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  in 
speaking  of  the  Spirit,  Christ  invariably  uses  the  per- 
sonal pronoun  "He,"  "  Him,"  "  whom,"  etc. 

In  the  fourth  of  Luke,  quoting  from  Isaiah,  he  says, 
"  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me  because  He  hath 
anointed  me  to  preach."  He  could  hardly  say  that.of  an 
influence.  Again,  take  the  following  passage,  which 
has  troubled  so  many :  "All  manner  of  sin  and  blas- 
phemy shall  be  forgiven  unto  men, but  the  blasphemy 
against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven."  A 
thing,  an  emanation,  cannot  be  sinned  against.  It 
would  be  just  as  sensible  to  talk  about  sinning  against 
a  stone  wall  as  against  an  influence.  An  influence 
cannot  think,  or  feel,  or  suffer.  The  words  of  Christ, 
therefore,  leave  us  no  alternative.  He  certainly  teaches 
us  to  believe  in  the  proper  personality  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Not  only  so,  but  he  teaches  us  that  as  a  person  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  coequal  with  himself.  Thus,  if  I  say : 
"  I  am  a  Christian  and  you  are  another,  I  affirm  that 
you  are  likewise  a  Christian.  If  I  declare  that  J  am 
an  American  citizen  and  you  are  another,  behind  that 
word  "  another"  your  citizenship  is  averred  also.  So 
when  Jesus  says :  "  I  will  pray  the  Father,  and  He  shall 


—  49  — 

send  you  another  Comforter,"  he  puts  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  same  class  and  on  the  same  footing  with  himself. 

This  thought  will  become  clearer  if  we  bear  in  mind 
that  the  Spirit  was  to  take  Christ's  place.  It  was  said 
of  Beecher,  before  he  departed  this  life,  that  no  one 
could  ever  fill  his  pulpit.  It  was  felt  that  every  one 
who  came  after  him  to  speak  from  the  platform  of 
Plymouth  Church  would  be  very  much  in  the  situation 
of  a  school-boy  trying  to  stand  in  the  shoes  of  a  king; 
or  like  a  sapling  attempting  to  occupy  the  place  made 
vacant  by  the  falling  of  a  sky-piercing  pine.  The 
same  thing  has  often  been  said  of  Spurgeon.  When 
such  a  man  steps  off  the  stage  it  is  no  easy  matter  to 
find  a  worthy  and  competent  successor.  There  never 
has  been  but  one  Shakspeare,  but  one  Paganini,  but 
one  Raphael.  Ulysses'  bow  could  be  bent  by  no  mor- 
tal but  Ulysses,  and  when  such  men  leave  us  their 
weapons  can  be  handled  and  their  places  filled  only 
by  those  of  equal  genius  and  calibre  and  powder. 

But  if  that  is  true  of  these  men  to  whom  I  have  just 
referred,  how  much  more  is  it  true  of  the  Christ  of 
God  ?  He  had  been  preaching  as  never  man  had 
preached.  His  words  had  thrilled  over  the  hills  of 
Judea  and  stirred  the  people  and  burned  into  their 
very  souls.  Their  tenderness,  their  pathos,  their  ring 
of  authority,  their  wisdom  and  force  had  called  forth 
the  unqualified  testimony  that  "never  man  spake  like 
this  man."  When  the  day  came,  therefore,  for  our 
Lord  to  vacate  His  pulpit  who  should  fill  it  ?  What 
must  be  the  quality,  the  capacity,  the  temper  of  the 


-50- 

person  sent  to  stand  in  the  office  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
take  up  the  work  where  He  left  it  ?  Could  anybody 
do  it  who  was  His  inferior  ?  But  He  declares  that 
even  greater  things  shall  be  done  because  of  the 
advent  of  the  Spirit  than  ever  He  himself  had  done- 
and  so  we  must  conclude  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  not 
only  a  person,  but  the  equal  of  the  Son  of  God. 

II.  Let  us  pass  now  to  consider  just  for  a  moment 
what  Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  as  to  where  the  Spirit 
is.  I  trust  that  what  I  am  saying  may  not  be  regarded 
as  dull  and  uninteresting.  To  Christians  at  least  this 
subject  should  be  profoundh^  practical,  for  it  has  to  do 
with  the  very  fountain  of  all  their  religious  growth 
and  zeal  and  work  and  life.  Speaking  of  the  Spirit, 
Jesus  says:  "  If  I  depart  I  will  send  him  unto  you." 
Again  He  says :  "  He  shall  abide  with  you  forever." 

Jesus  goes  to  heaven,  the  Spirit  comes  to  earth. 
Jesusgoes  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  Almighty,  the 
Spirit  comes  into  the  world  to  be  a  quickening,  living 
presence  among  men,  especially  in  the  hearts  of  be- 
lievers. When  Jesus  was  here  in  the  flesh  the  Father 
said  :  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  hear  him."  But  after 
his  ascension  Jesus  speaks  out  of  the  skies  and  says: 
*' He  that  hath 'an  ear  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit 
saith  unto  the  churches."  As  certainly,  therefore,  as 
the  Son  of  God  is  there,  so  certainly  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  here. 

He  is  here  in  two  senses;  first  as  the  air,  which  is 
universally  diff*used,  and,  second,  as  water,  which  is 
not  equal  everywhere,  coming  and  going  as  it  listeth, 


—  51  — 

but  flows  in  certain  channels  like  our  streams  or  riv- 
ers. In  the  first  sense,  His  presence  enswathes  every 
life,  presses  upon  every  soul,  hovers  about  every  relig- 
ious assembly,  and  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  open  our 
hearts  to  Him  and  He  will  come  in  to  abide  with  us 
forever.  In  the  second  sense.  He  has  already  come  in, 
He  has  poured  himself  into  the  empty  vessel  which 
has  made  room  for  Him,  so  that  the  person  thus  filled 
becomes  a  fountain  of  blessing  to  others,  or  as  it  is  in 
the  prophecy,  "  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place." 

Thus,  while  the  Spirit  is  all  about  us  He  is  present 
as  a  vitalizing  and  inspiring  force  only  in  the  lives  of 
true  disciples.  His  real  seat  of  energy  is  in  every 
little  church  whose  members  have  had  their  hearts 
cleansed  and  given  up  to  his  indwelling ;  and  if  in 
any  particular  church  he  is  not  a  moving,  propelling 
energy  it  is  because  its  members  are  filled  with  other 
things.  I  have  seen  water  in  the  shape  of  mist  hang, 
dense  and  heav^^over  hill  and  plain.  Every  tree  and 
flower  was  wrapped  in  it  as  in  a  shroud,  but  its  weight 
was  not  felt.  It  didn't  move  the  smallest  machine,  it 
didn't  sway  a  branch  or  tip  a  leaf.  And  I  have  seen 
water  in  the  shape  of  a  stream  sweep  down  the  valley, 
turning  mill  after  mill,  causing  the  wheels  of  industry 
to  spin,  and  bearing  many  a  craft  of  commerce  to  the 
sea,  everywhere  the  very  embodiment  of  life  and 
power.  Thus,  while  the  mist  was  as  truly  water  as 
the  stream,  it  was  water  without  concentration,  water 
without  a  channel,  and  therefore  it  was  weak,  inoper- 
ative, and  practically  useless.     Brethren,  let  us  take 


—  52  — 

the  lesson  home.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  here  and  every- 
where, he  broods  over  all  the  world,  but  he  manifests 
himself  in  Pentecostal  power  only  when  there  are  cer- 
tain well-defined  channels  for  him  to  move  in. 

Those  channels  are  Christian  hearts  and  Christian 
churches.  Is  there  any  reason  why  they  should  not  be 
our  hearts  and  our  church  ? 

III.  But,  without  tarrying  longer  here,  let  me  ask 
your  attention  to  what  Christ  teaches  us  to  believe  the 
Spirit  does.  There  is  so  much  that  might  be  said  here 
that  I  shall  have  to  confine  myself  to  those  points 
which  are  most  salient  and  practical. 

1.  The  first  thing  He  will  do,  says  Christ,  is  to  con- 
vince the  world  of  sin.  That  is  fundamental.  Unless 
a  man  is  thoroughly  persuaded  that  he  is  a  sinner  he 
will  never  call  upon  the  Savior.  If  the  field  of  the  soul 
is  ever  to  yield  golden  sheaves  for  God  it  must  first  be 
cut  and  torn  by  the  plowshare  of  conviction.  But  that 
is  no  easy  matter.  I  can  show  you  sin  in  the  bud  and 
flower  and  describe  it  when  it  comes  to  the  fruitage, 
but  to  take  you  back  to  its  secret  beginnings,  to  the 
germ  out  of  which  it  came,  is  quite  beyond  me.  All 
men,  for  example,  who  have  a  spark  of  nobility  left  in 
them, condemn  murder;  but  all  men  do  not  condemn 
the  unholy  anger  in  which  the  bloody  crime  had  its 
start.  Every  decent  man  denounces  falsehood,  and 
does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  liar  should  not  be" 
tolerated  in  respectable  society.  But  that  very  decent 
man  himself  may  act  a  lie,  and  live  a  lie,  and  do  it  so 
constantly  that  it  comes  to  be  the  steady  habit  of  his 


53  — 


years.  When  a  man  gets  in  that  condition,  the  only 
agent  that  can  reach  him  is  the  lightning  of  God.  Hu- 
man words  will  fall  upon  his  ear  with  no  more  effect 
than  hailstones  on  the  rock. 

Here  is  a  man  who  to  all  appearances  has  been 
very  benevolent.  He  has  made  a  large  donation  to 
some  worthy  cause.  He  did  it  cheerfully,  and  with 
manifestations  of  delight.  The  people  praise  him  in 
the  gates  and  leading  articles  are  written  to  extol  him. 
Many  a  heart  has  been  made  glad  by  the  gift.  On  the 
outside  it  was  very  beautiful,  and  that  is  as  far  as  the 
human  eye  can  see.  But  the  Spirit  comes,  and  holds 
the  candle  of  the  Lord  over  the  secret  places  of  that 
man's  heart;  he  searches  his  motives,  and  says  to  the 
much-eulogized  giver :  "  Your  soul  was  not  in  your 
offering.  It  was  a  bribe  by  which  you  bought  a  large 
place  among  men.  It  was  a  sacrifice  to  your  own  van- 
ity. You  were  not  thinking  of  doing  good,  but  only 
of  yourself."  Certain  it  is  that  in  such  a  case  as  this 
the  Holy  Spirit  must  undertake  the  work,  or  it  never 
will  be  done.  The  truth  is,  our  very  almsgiving 
may  be  mockery;  our  very  prayers  may  be  a  lie,  and 
our  very  religion  the  high-water-mark  of  our  iniquity. 
Hence  the  absolute  need  of  the  Spirit  to  keep  the  con- 
science sensitive,  the  inner  eye  keen,  and  to  show  us 
sin,  not  in  the  outward  act,  but  in  the  hiding-places 
of  the  soul. 

2.  The  second  thing  the  Spirit  will  do,  says  Christ, 
is  to  teach,  to  guide  you  into  the  truth.  If  I  were  to 
say:    "Musical  things  are  musically  discerned,"  you 


—  54  — 

would  give  your  assent  very  readily.  No  man  can 
see  into  music  who  hasn't  a  musical  eye — a  musical 
soul — a  nature  attuned  to  harmonious  sounds.  Math- 
ematical things  are  mathematically  discerned.  Poet- 
ical things  are  poetically  discerned.  Artistic  things 
are  artistically  discerned.  Here  there  is  no  disagree- 
ment. But  when  we  say  "Spiritual  things  are  spirit- 
ually discerned,"  there  are  those  who  charge  us  with 
indulging  in  mystical  nonsense  or  something  of  that 
sort.  But  if  to  understand  and  appreciate  music,  or 
art,  or  poetry,  or  any  great  and  high  study,  we  must 
bring  to  it  a  kindred  sympathy,  why  should  not  the 
same  thing  hold  true  of  the  Scriptures?  I  do  not  stop 
to  argue  the  matter.  I  am  content  to  stand  on  the 
rock  of  the  Savior's  instruction.  We  need  a  Teacher, 
and  that  teacher  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  has  come  to 
guide  us  into  all  truth. 

Who  taught  D.  L.  Moody  so  that  whenever  he  opens 
the  word  of  God  to  the  people  they  see  treasures  which 
they  never  saw  before  ?  Who  taught  many  a  pious  old 
saint,  that  never  saw  the  inside  of  a  college,  and  made 
him  wiser  in  the  Scriptures  than  many  a  learned,  book- 
worn  man,  who  has  gone  through  all  the  schools  ?  It 
was  the  blessed  Comforter  whom  Jesus  Christ  sent  in 
His  own  name.  There  are  some  lessons  which  can  be 
learned  only  in  the  school  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to 
know  the  Bible  is  one  of  them.  I  wish  that  thought 
might  be  burned  into  all  of  our  hearts. 

Suppose  you  see  a  man  at  midnight  trying  to  under- 
stand a  sun-dial.     He  has  a  lamp  in  his  hand,  and. 


—  as- 
holding  it  up,  he  tries  to  trace  the  figures  on  the  face 
of  the  dial.  He  looks  at  it,  and  studies  it,  and  exam- 
ines it  with  the  utmost  diligence,  and  the  result  is  that 
while  he  gains  a  pretty  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
structure,  he  complains  that  he  can't  understand  its 
purpose.  He  can't  see  its  practical  use.  But  you  tell 
him  to  wait  till  the  sun  is  up.  He  does  so,  and  in  its 
clear  shining  he  sees  not  only  what  he  saw  before,  but 
that  the  dial  was  intended  to  point  out  the  hours  of 
the  day.  Well,  friends,  the  word  of  God  can  no  more 
be  understood  in  its  spirit  and  purpose  without  the 
Holy  Ghost  than  the  sun-dial  can  be  understood  with- 
out the  sun. 

3.  Another  thing  Christ  says  about  the  Spirit  is  that 
he  brings  to  remembrance,  quickens  the  memory. 
Many  a  man  has  gone  on  living  in  sin,  grasping  after 
the  things  of  this  life,  accumulating  treasures  that 
rust  and  decay,  so  busy  with  his  muck-rate  that  he 
could  not  see  the  crown  that  hung  above  his  head, 
when  suddenly  some  lesson  of  long  ago,  some  nursery 
song,  some  verse  learned  on  his  mother's  knee,  flashed 
back  through  his  soul  and  led  him  to  consecrate 
himself  to  God.  Yes,  many  a  man  has  been  arrested 
in  his  mad  career  by  a  memory  stirred  and  quickened 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Indeed,  I  think  this  re-awakening 
of  the  recollection  always  takes  place  before  a  man  turns 
his  face  toward  his  Father's  house. 

Some  of  us  need  it.  We  need  to  have  old  vows, 
trampled  upon  for  years,  brought  back  to  remem- 
brance.    We  need  to  have  our  memories  aroused,  to 


—  56  — 

recall  and  re-impress  certain  solemn  pledges  which  we 
made  away  yonder  in  the  past.  We  need  to  be  re- 
minded of  the  covenant  we  made  with  God,  and  of  the 
resolutions  we  formed  to  walk  in  the  way  of  His  com- 
mandments. Aye,  and  some  of  us,  when  the  road  is 
rough  and  the  burden  is  heavy,  and  the  clouds  hang 
dark  above,  need  to  be  reminded  of  the  sweet,  tender, 
inspiring  words  of  Jesus  assuring  us  of  his  sympathy, 
his  fellowship  and  his  abiding  presence. 

4.  But  finally,  the  Holy  Ghost,  says  Christ,  gives 
power.  Standing  on  Mt.  Olivet,  with  angel  escorts 
waiting  to  attend  Him  to  the  courts  of  glory,  He  said 
to  His  disciples:  "Ye  shall  receive  power  after  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you,"  and  we  all  know 
how  that  promise  was  fulfilled.  He  knew  that  with- 
out this  divine  furnishing  they  would  be  laughed  to 
scorn.  He  knew  that  they  would  be  as  helpless  to 
break  through  crusted  forms  as  a  troop  of  children  is 
to  beat  down  a  frowning  fortress  of  granite.  What 
could  they  do  in  themselves,  without  money,  without 
numbers,  without  social  standing,  to  stem  the  tides  of 
Pharisaic  hate  and  breast  the  storms  of  opposition  that 
swept  over  Judah's  hill? 

And  so  our  Lord  would  not  let  them  take  a  step 
until  touched  and  thrilled  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Hence 
we  find  them  in  a  receptive  attitude,  earnestly  engaged 
in  prayer,  turning  the  empty  vessels  toward  the  skies, 
and  in  due  time  the  Spirit  came  like  a  mighty  rushing 
wind,  and  then  they  were  clothed  with  power,  ready 
to  do  battle,  and  go  from  victory  to  victory. 


—  57  — 

0,  for  this  power  to-day.  We  need  it,  and  we  may 
have  it,  for  it  was  a  permanent  gift  that  was  given  to 
the  church  at  Pentecost.  We  need  it  to  inspire  our  zeal, 
to  deepen  our  consecration,  to  increase  our  Christian 
activities.  We  need  it  to  lift  us  out  of  our  indifference, 
to  awake  us  to  a  sense  of  our  responsibility,  to  give  us 
the  courage  to  do  and  dare,  to  serve  and  suffer  for  the 
honor  of  our  Lord.  We  need  it  in  the  pulpit,  and  in 
the  pew,  and  along  every  line  of  our  work. 

What  we  need  in  this  church,  and  in  every  other 
church  of  Christ,  the  wide  land  over,  is  to  get  back  to 
first  principles,  and  seek  for  power  where  alone  it  can 
be  found.  Jesus  Christ  tells  us  that  He  himself  was 
anointed  for  His  great  mission  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Whenever  Peter  and  the  apostles  are  about  to  do  any- 
thing great  we  find  the  account  prefaced  by  some  such 
words  as  these:  "And  being  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost."  So,  in  the  Old  Testament,  we  read  of  this 
man  and  that  man,  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came 
upon  him,"  and,  behold,  he  went  forth  to  immortal 
exploits.  This  is  w^hat  we  need,  and  this  we  must 
have,  or  we  can  do  nothing. 

In  the  olden  time,  when  Rome  was  in  the  front,  and 
the  tramp  of  her  legions  shook  the  world,  if  the  fire  went 
out  in  the  temple  of  Vesta  they  would  not  suffer  it  to 
be  lighted  from  another  fire.  It  must  be  rekindled  by 
drawing  a  pure,  unpolluted  beam  directly  from  the  sun. 
So  our  fire  must  come  not  from  machinery,  not  from 
organization,  not  from  these  things  which  appeal  to 
the  eye  of  sense,  but,  if  it  comes  at  all,  it  must  come  from 


—  58  — 

above.  Aye,  and  come  it  will,  as  certainly  as  Christ  is 
true,  if  we  prepare  the  fuel  and  turn  our  yearning  hearts 
to  heaven.  "The  promise  is  unto  you  and  your  children, 
and  to  all  that  are  afar  off." 

We  need  it,  brethren.  Don't  get  impatient  with  me 
if  I  dwell  upon  it  with  a  good  deal  of  reiteration. 
There  is  your  engine  upon  the  track.  What  a  piece 
of  workmanship !  Burnished  and  resplendent,  flinging 
back  the  sunbeams  in  a  thousand  arrows  of  light.  But 
there  it  stands — a  magnificent  machine — useless  and 
powerless.  What  is  the  matter?  There  is  no  steam 
in  the  boiler.  Only  let  that  be  attended  to,  and  it 
becomes  a  very  Titan  of  power  and  fleeter  than  the 
winds.  And  when  we  see  a  magnificently  equipped 
church  standing  still  in  the  midst  of  the  battle,  bear- 
ing aloft  the  banner  that  never  yet  and  never  shall  go 
down  in  defeat,  but  winning  no  trophies,  gaining  no 
victories,  making  no  inroads  upon  the  enemy's  coun- 
try, need  we  ask.  What  is  the  matter?  The  answer  is 
plain — the  element  of  power  is  wanting.  The  church 
has  not  yet  received  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Not  long  ago  a  great  steamship  ran  upon  a  bar 
coming  into  New  York  harbor.  She  was  helpless. 
Tugs  were  sent  for,  and  tried  to  pull  her  ofl",  but  in 
vain.  Finally  the  captain  said :  "  We  shall  have  to 
lighten  her  up  and  wait  for  the  tide."  And  that's 
what  the  church  needs.  She  is  aground.  So  heavily 
is  she  freighted  with  the  things  of  this  world  that  she 
has  settled  on  the  bar.  Now  and  then  strenuous  efforts 
are  made  to  pull  her  off,  by  resorting  to  human  devices 


—  59  — 


and  clever  schemes,  but  the  results  are  not  reassuring. 
The  load  is  too  heavy.  Oh,  that  we,  and  all  who  love 
her,  might  lighten  her  up  by  beginning  at  Jerusalem, 
and,  by  prayer  and  supplication,  wait  for  the  tides  of 
the' Spirit's  power. 


WHAT   CHRIST    TEACHES    US    TO    BELIEVE 
CONCERNING  THE  ATONEMENT. 


"  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep. '^— John,  10:15. 


THIS  morning  we  are  to  consider  what  Christ 
teaches  us  to  believe  concerning  the  Atonement. 
The  etymology  of  the  word  gives  us  the  key  to  its 
meaning,  At-one-ment,  that  is  the  bringing  together, 
or  the  reconciliation  of  those  w^ho  have  been  at  enmity. 
Of  course  Christ's  incarnation  and  life  constitute  a 
part  of  the  atoning  plan,  but  as  they  look  forward  to 
his  death  on  the  cross  for  their  efficacy  and  consum- 
mation, the  atonement  is  usually  understood  to  mean 
his  sacrifice  on  Calvary.  His  work  was  finished  only 
when  by  the  grace  of  God  he  had  "  tasted  death  for 
every  man."  Then  only  was  the  veil  of  the  temple 
rent  in  twain  and  the  reconciliation  complete. 

By  those  who  would  rid  the  gospel  of  its  distinctively 
evangelical  feature  and  leave  it  like  a  body  without  a 
backbone,  it  is  claimed  that  the  atonement  "is  the  in- 
vention of  the  apostle  Paul  and  of  other  philosophising 
disciples."     It  is  affirmed  that  the  Saviour  says  noth- 


—  61  — 

iiig,  or  next  to  nothing,  about  it;  that  instead  of  dwell- 
ing upon  these  matters  of  theology,  he  tells  men  to 
love  their  neighbors  and  to  be  truthful  and  pure  and 
honest.  They  remind  us  that  there  is  no  doctrine  of 
atonement  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  or  in  the 
parable  of  the  prodigal.  The  boy  gets  sorry  for  what 
he  has  done,  resolves  to  do  better,  starts  back  home, 
and  is  heartily  welcomed  without  the  offering  of  any 
sacrifice  to  bring  about  reconciliation. 

But  I  submit  that  it  is  manifestly  unfair  to  say  that 
Christ  did  not  teach  such  and  such  a  doctrine  because 
he  omitted  it  from  one  or  two  discourses.  No  minister 
can  be  expected  to  bring  out  a  w^hole  system  of  theology 
and  touch  upon  all  the  fundamentals  of  Christianity 
in  one  or  two  sermons.  Nobody  is  absurd  enough  to 
expect  it.  Why,  th^n,  should  we  look  for  anything  so 
unreasonable  in  every  talk  of  the  Son  of  God? 

There  was  good  reason  why  he  did  not  mention  the 
atonement  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  That  w^as 
delivered  near  the  beginning  of  his  ministry,  and,  like 
a  wise  teacher,  he  would  not  lead  his  disciples  into  the 
depths  until  he  got  them  somewhat  accustomed  to  the 
shallow  water  along  the  shore.  He  kept  that  which 
was  more  difficult  until  they  were  better  prepared  to 
grapple  with  it.  But  that  he  did  say  a  good  deal  about 
the  atonement,  in  a  variety  of  connections,  and  with 
very  special  and  solemn  emphasis  I  think  you  will  see 
before  I  am  done. 

First  of  all,  then,  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  supper 
shows  us  that  in  our  Saviour's  estimation  the  import- 


—  62  — 

ance  of  the  atonement  is  supreme.  His  history  is  full 
of  great  and  thrilling  events,  pre-eminently  so,  some 
of  them  awaking  the  songs  of  angels  and  made 
sublimely  grand  and  impressive  by  voices  and  visitors 
from  heaven.  Think  of  the  glories  that  gather  around 
his  advent  and  of  the  ineffable  splendors  of  his  trans- 
figuration. Think  of  that  immortal  scene  when,  going 
down  into  the  Jordan,  he  is  baptised  by  John,  while 
the  Holy  Spirit  descends  upon  him  like  a  dove,  and 
out  of  the  sky  there  come  the  words,  "This  is  my 
beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  Then  fol- 
lows his  temptation,  his  crucial  hour  of  trial,  out  of 
which  he  comes  a  conqueror.  But  of  none  of  these  has 
he  left  a  memorial.  No  man  knows  the  day  of  his 
birth  and  he  never  asked  his  disciples  to  keep  it  in 
perpetual  remembrance.  He  made  no  request  that 
that  great  day  when  Moses  and  Elias  came  out  of  the 
unseen  glory  to  do  him  homage  should  be  celebrated. 
What  could  be  grander  than  his  resurrection  when  "  he 
burst  the  bars  of  death  and  triumphed  o'er  the  grave." 
But  he  left  no  memorial  of  that.  To  be  sure  tlie  chris- 
tian Sabbath  is  a  memorial  of  his  coming  again  from 
the  tomb  but  not  by  any  specific  command  of  his.  And 
what  could  be  conceived  of  as  more  awe-inspiring  than 
his  ascension  when  the  clouds  opened  and  received 
him  out  of  sight,  but  he  left  no  memorial  of  that.  It 
seems  to  me  it  cannot  fail  to  impress  us  as  being  pro- 
foundly significant  that  the  only  event  of  which  he 
said,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me,"  was  his  death. 
On  the  eve  of  his  crucifixion,  with  his  sorrowing  dis- 


ciples  around  him,  he  instituted  the  supper  to  be 
sacredly  observed  from  generation  to  generation  for 
the  purpose  of  showing  "  the  Lord's  death  till  he 
come."  •  But  the  very  words  with  which  it  was  estab- 
lished, '-This  is  my  body  broken  for  you,"  "This  cup 
is  the  new  testament  in  my  blood  which  is  shed  for 
many  for  the  remission  of  sins," — these  very  words 
gather  about  the  atonement  as  the  great  central  and 
vital  fact.  They  declare  in  words  too  plain  to  be  mis- 
taken that  the  thing  above  all  others  which  he  wants 
to  have  remembered  is  his  sacrificial  death.  They 
show  us  that  whatever  else  may  be  forgotten,  he  wants 
the  cross  to  stand  out  forever  conspicuous  and  to  be 
kept  forever  fresh  and  green  in  the  memory  of  man- 
kind. 

When  anybody  tells  us,  therefore,  that  Jesus  made 
little  or  nothing  of  the  atonement,  we  point  him  to 
the  last  supper  and  ask  him  what  he  has  to  say  in  the 
face  of  the  words,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me?  " 
What  stronger  proof  can  we  possibl^^  ask  to  convince 
us  that  in  his  estimation  the  sacrifice  on  the  cross  is 
the  very  substance  of  the  gospel?  In  view  of  that 
memorial  and  of  all  its  profound  and  pathetic  mean- 
ing I  am  sure  the  church  is  right  and  in  harmony 
with  her  great  Head  when,  with  swelling  heart,  she 
sings, 

"  Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee." 

The  Lord  Jesus  teaches  us  to  believe  that  the  atone- 
ment is  vicarious.     A  vicarious  sacrifice  is  one  that  is 


—  64  — 

offered  in  the  place  of  or  as  a  substitute  for  another. 
To  illustrate :  Here  is  a  man  who  has  been  drafted. 
He  must  enter  the  army  and  go  forth  to  fight  the  bat- 
tles of  his  country.  But  he  has  a  wife  and  children^ 
and  to  think  of  leaving  them,  perhaps  forever,  breaks 
his  heart.  A  friend  of  his,  however,  who  has  no  ties 
of  home  and  family,  comes  forward  and  volunteers  to 
take  his  place.  He  is  accepted,  starts  for  the  front, 
and  in  a  bloody  engagement,  while  charging  at  the 
head  of  his  company,  is  cruelly  slain  by  the  bursting 
of  a  shell.  Thus  his  death  is  vicarious.  He  laid  him- 
self upon  the  altar  of  his  country  as  a  substitute  for 
his  friend.  The  illustration  is  of  course  imperfect. 
It  does  not  begin  to  cover  the  case  before  us,  for  the 
Saviour  died  as  a  substitute  for  those  who  were  not  his 
friends,  but  it  may  serve  to  give  us  an  idea  of  the 
meaning  of  the  word  vicarious.  It  means  that  Jesus 
Christ  died  in  our  room  and  stead,  that  he  took 
our  place  and  bore  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on 
the  tree.  Or  as  the  prophet  Isaiah  puts  it,  *'He 
was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised 
for  our  iniquities;  the  chastisement  of  our  peace 
was  upon  him  and  with  his  stripes  we  are 
healed."  And  this  agrees  exactly  with  the  teaching 
of  Christ.  He  says  in  our  text,  "  I  lay  down  my  life 
for  the  sheep."  The  same  thought  is  clearly  expressed 
in  the  words  already  quoted,  "This  is  my  body  broken 
for  you."  In  language  still  more  to  the  point  if  pos- 
sible he  says,  "The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  minis- 
tered unto  but  to  minister  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom 


—  65  — 

for  many."  See  how  the  idea  of  vicariousness  stands 
out  there.  A  ransom  is  something  "presented  as  an 
equivalent  to  secure  deliverance  for  those  on  whose 
behalf  it  is  paid."  That  is,  it  takes  their  place  and  is 
accepted  as  a  substitute  for  them.  It  may  be  money, 
or  property,  or  men,  but  whatever  it  is,  it  is  received 
in  lieu  of  those  who  have  been  set  at  liberty.  Hence 
when  the  Saviour  declares  that  he  gave  his  life  a 
ransom  for  sinners,  he  plainly  teaches  the  vicarious 
nature  of  his  atonement. 

There  are  those  who  tell  us  that  Jesus  died  simply  as 
a  martyr,  but  no  man  can  be  a  martyr  who  lays  down 
his  life  of  his  own  accord.  A  martyr  is  one  w^hose 
sufferings  are  enforced;  he  has  no  power  to  resist,  but 
Jesus  surrendered  himself  to  death  by  his  own  choice. 
Others  tell  us  that  he  died  to  display  the  matchless 
wealth  and  depth  of  his  love.  No  doubt  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  truth  in  that,  but  to  put  the  emphasis 
there  is  misleading  and  mischievious.  Most  perti- 
nently has  it  been  said  that  "  no  love  is  expressed  by 
a  needless  and  useless  sacrifice."  If  the  suffering  is 
not  necessary,  if  it  is  not  endured  to  serve  some  high 
and  holy  cause,  it  is  folly,  yea,  it  is  more,  it  is  sin. 
"  The  lover  who  blows  out  his  brains  to  show  his  devo- 
tion earns  no  gratitude  by  that  idiotic  display."  So 
if  Jesus  Christ  had  died  merely  for  effect,  if  he  had 
poured  out  his  blood  merely  for  the  sake  of  producing 
a  profound  impression,  it  would  have  no  more  practi- 
cal, uplifting  power  over  men  than  the  performance  of 
the  Passion  Play  upon  the  stage.   It  is  the  great  central 


—  66  — 

and  blessed  truth  that  he  died  for  us  that  is  drawing 
men  and  saving  them  from  their  sins  the  wide-world 
over  to-day.  His  death  was  vicarious.  His  bosom 
received  the  storm  which  but  for  him  would  have 
beaten  upon  us.  His  back  was  bared  to  the  smiters 
that  Ave  might  not  suffer.  The  Rock  was  cleft  not  only 
that  it  might  not  fall  upon  us  but  that  we  might  find 
shelter  in  its  riven  side.  "  The  Lord  hath  laid  on  him 
the  iniquity  of  us  all." 

Against  the  doctrine  of  the  vicarious  atonement  two 
objections  are  often  urged  which  it  may  be  well  to 
notice  in  this  connection.  The  first  is  as  to  the  necessity 
of  suffering  to  procure  the  redemption  of  men.  Why 
must  the  cross  be  the  way  to  life  ?  Why  must  peace 
be  purchased  at  the  expense  of  pain?  But  for  those 
who  stumble  here  it  may  diminish  the  difficulty  some- 
what to  note  how  this  fact  fits  into  everything  we 
enjoy  in  the  way  of  temporal  blessing.  I  may  safely 
challenge  you  to  point  me  to  anything  that  blesses 
your  life  to-day  and  contributes  to  your  happiness,  in 
the  way  of  social  and  domestic  comfort,  that  has  not 
come  to  you  by  virtue  of  somebody's  pain,  or  along  the 
road  of  suffering.  In  order  that  you  may  live  in  com- 
fortable homes  and  attire  yourselves  in  comfortable 
clothing  many  a  back  is  made  to  ache  and  many  a 
liand  is  blistered.  To  supply  toothsome  viands  for 
your  tables  many  an  innocent  creature  must  bleed  and 
die.  When  you  sit  down  around  your  well-laden 
boards  to-day  think  back  to  the  source  whence  these 
viands  came  and  see  if  it  be  not  so.     Not  only  is  it 


—  67 


true  that  most  of  our  blessings  come  to  us  along  the 
pathway  of  suffering,  but  the  rule  is  that  the  higher  the 
blessing  the  more  pain  and  sorrow  it  costs;  and  hence 
it  is  certainly  in  keeping  with  this  universal  law  that 
redemption,  infinitely  the  highest  blessing  of  all, 
should  be  procured  by  the  keenest  and  most  awful 
suffering  of  all. 

The  second  objection  has  to  do  w^ith  the  imputation 
of  the  sins  of  the  guilty  to  the  innocent.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  be  able  to  penetrate  all  its  mysteries  and 
solve  all  its  difficulties,  but  I  would  like  you  to 
remember  that  the  atonement  of  Christ  is  not  by  any 
means  an  isolated  case.  Explain  it  as  we  may,  there 
is  nothing  more  common  than  the  fact  that  everywhere 
in  human  life  and  society  the  innocent  do  suffer  for 
the  guilty.  The  back  of  honest  industry  is  loaded 
down  to  support  indolence  and  self-imposed  poverty. 
The  law-abiding  citizen  is  taxed  and  burdened  because 
of  the  sins  of  the  vicious  and  criminal  classes.  People 
who  hate  strong  drink  as  they  hate  a  serpent  and 
regard  the  saloon  as  the  consummate  curse  of  society 
must  nevertheless  suffer  for  drunkenness.  The  hot 
lava  that  pours  from  these  craters  of  woe  and  death 
burns  and  blisters  the  feet  of  thousands  who  never 
cross  the  threshold  of  a  dram  sliop.  Many  an  inno- 
cent child  inherits  from  an  intemperate  and  dissolute 
father  a  depraved  appetite,  an  enfeebled  constitution, 
and  an  awful  legacy  of  pain.  His  whole  life  is  blighted 
and  blasted  and  withered  by  sins  which  he  never 
committed. 


—  68  — 

Now  these  are  hard  facts  and  it  will  do  us  no  good 
to  quarrel  with  them,  for  they  meet  us  at  every  turn. 
The  reason  for  them  in  all  its  bearings  is  perhaps 
beyond  our  ken,  but  the  thing  I  want  you  to  notice  is 
that  they  are  right  in  line  with  the  atonement.  I 
touch  upon  this  simply  to  show  you  that  this  great 
central  truth  of  Christianity  agrees  in  the  main  with 
the  facts  of  the  divine  government  as  we  see  them  un- 
folding in  the  world  around  us.  You  may  say  it  is 
wrong  that  the  innocent  should  suffer  for  the  guilty, 
but  before  you  settle  down  in  that  position  let  me  ask 
you  this:  Does  a  mother  do  any  wrong  when  she 
suffers  for  her  erring  boy?  Is  it  unjust  for  her  to 
burden  and  break  her  heart  with  the  sins  of  her  own 
child?  Or  ought  she  to  be  indifferent  to  them  and 
never  allow  them  to  cost  her  a  pang?  She  would  cer- 
tainly be  a  most  unnatural  and  cruel  mother  who 
could  do  that. 

When  the  children  of  a  home  turn  out  badly,  when 
they  become  transgressors  of  law  and  run  off,  like  the 
prodigal,  into  the  far  country  of  vice  and  iniquity, 
who  is  it  that  suffers  most?  Is  it  not  the  heads  of  the 
household?  Does  it  not  bring  down  their  gray  hairs 
in  sorrow  to  the  grave?  Does  not  the  evil  of  their 
children  pierce  them  through  with  pain  and  anguish? 
These  questions  we  unanimously  answer  in  the 
affirmative.  Well  now,  is  not  God  the  one  great 
Parent  in  this  house  of  the  universe?  Why,  then, 
should  it  be  counted  a  strange  and  unjust  thing,  that 
he  should  suffer  for  his  guilty  children?     In  the  case 


of  earthly  parents  their  sufferings  cannot,  of  course, 
save  their  children  and  atone  for  their  transgressions, 
but  is  not  their  pain  the  same  in  kind  that  God  en- 
dures in  the  room  and  stead  of  wandering  sinners? 

I  am  well  aware  that  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of 
Jesus  Christ  has  often  been  caricatured,  and  sometimes, 
unwittingly,  in  the  house  of  his  friends.  Not  long  ago 
I  received  a  pamphlet  in  which  the  writer  repudiates 
this  glorious  doctrine  and  tries  to  make  it  odious  by 
the  following  illustration.  I  give  it  to  you  in  sub- 
stance only,  for  it  is  too  long  to  quote.  Suppose,  he 
says,  that  when  President  Garfield  lay  dying  he  had 
called  his  beloved  son  James  to  his  side  and  addressed 
him  as  follows:  "  My  son,  I  am  dying  at  the  hand  of 
Guiteau,  the  chief  of  sinners.  He  had  no  excuse  for 
the  dastardly  deed,  and  the  law  justly  demands  his 
death.  But,  my  son,  I  love  him,  I  forgive  him.  I 
desire  that  he  may  live,  but  that  cannot  be  without  a 
substitute.  You  must  therefore  take  his  place."  The 
son  consents,  a  gallows  is  erected,  and  on  it  dies,  not 
the  wretched  assassin,  but  the  faithful  and  loving  son. 
Now  says  this  pamphleteer,  "  what  would  be  thought 
in  heaven  and  earth  of  such  a  transaction  as  that?  '^ 
And  this  he  calls  a  fair  presentation  of  the  docirine  in 
question. 

But  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  more 
hideous  and  monstrous  perversion  of  the  truth.  God 
and  his  Son  are  not  two  but  one.  The  sacrifice  on 
Calvary  was  the  act  of  the  undivided  Diety.  When 
the  Eternal   Fatlier  provided  an  atonement  for  sin- 


—  To- 
ners he  did  not  reach  out  and  lay  the  penalty  of 
tlieir  sins  uj^on  any  second  party.  He  found  the 
ransom  price  in  his  own  bosom.  He  took  the  sacrifice 
out  of  his  own  heart.  He  and  the  Son  are  one,  and  the 
Son  is  God's  self  brought  down  to  the  level  of  human 
comprehension.  "  My  Father  which  dwelleth  in  me, 
he  doeth  the  works."  ''God  was  in  Christ  reconciling 
the  world  to  himself,"  and  Christ  was  God,  and  who 
will  say  that  it  was  unjust  for  God  to  suffer  that  we 
might  live?  This  of  course  involves  the  mystery  of 
the  Trinity,  but  we  are  not  going  to  get  rid  of 
mystery.  It  seems  strange  that  men  and  women  who 
cannot  account  for  the  beating  of  their  own  hearts 
should  insist  upon  it.  Seize  upon  this  truth,  there- 
fore, and  hold  it  for  evermore,  viz. :  that,  "  in  the 
Cross  we  find  the  Eternal  God  taking  to  himself  the 
consequences  of  human  sin ;  himself  becoming  the 
propitiation  for  the  sin  of  the  world ;  bearing  it 
himself;  pressed  under  it  as  a  cart  is  pressed  under 
sheaves ;  and  putting  it  away." 

Surely  it  is  impossible  to  see  anything  wrong  in  this. 
We  are  told  that  in  Bronson  Alcott's  school,  if 
any  of  the  boys  broke  the  rules  and  became  transgres- 
sors, instead  of  inflicting  the  penalty  upon  them,  the 
celebrated  teacher  bore  it  himself.  If  that  is  unjust, 
if  it  is  a  violation  of  right  and  equity,  for  one  person 
to  volunteer  to  suff'er  as  a  substitute  for  another,  then 
must  we  expunge  from  history's  page  its  noblest  deeds. 

There  are  difficulties.  I  do  not  seek  to  disguise  that 
fact,  but  instead  of  troubling  ourselves  with  these,  the 


blessed  truth  itself  ought  to  draw  every  one  of  us  to 
the  Crucified  to-day.  Every  burden  he  carried,  every 
battle  he  fought,  every  blow  he  received,  every  pang 
he  felt,  every  woe  he  suffered,  was  for  us,  for  us. 
Surely  it  ought  to  warm  our  hearts  and  fill  our  sky 
with  light,  as  Christian  men  and  women,  to  have 
this  great  theme  brought  to  our  attention  afresh.  It 
should  inspire  our  hope  and  strengthen  our  faith  every 
time  the  story  is  rehearsed.  Since  he  has  met  all  the 
demands  of  his  righteous  law  as  my  vicar,  my  substi- 
tute; since  he  has  by  his  own  blood  maintained  the 
stability  of  his  throne;  since  his  infinite  merit  has 
been  stretched  around  my  demerit,  and  the  mighty 
tide  of  his  sacrifice  has  gone  clean  over  my  sin,  what 
have  I  to  fear?  I  am  sure,  dear  friends,  if  we  did  but 
grasp  this  idea  of  the  vicarious  atonement  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  something  of  its  fullness  our  trust  would  be 
sweeter  and  firmer,  and  we  would  have  more  steadi- 
ness in  the  storm. 

Not  only,  however,  does  Christ  teach  us  that  the 
atonement  is  vicarious,  but  that  it  is  oivr  only  hope,  our 
only  ground  of  forgiveness.  We  have  often  heard  that 
before,  and  we  thought  perhaps  it  was  some  priestly 
formula,  some  dogmatic  statement  of  narrow  theolo- 
gians. But  I  want  to  remind  you  that  wherever  we 
heard  it,  it  was  the  truth  as  taught  and  reiterated 
again  and  again  by  the  Son  of  God.  One  night  he  had 
a  memorable  talk  with  a  learned  Eabbi,  Nicodemus 
by  name,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said :  ^'As  Mose& 
lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must 


—  72  — 

the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
Nicodemus  was  intelligent  enough  to  see  the  point  and 
force  of  that  illustration,  and  so  is  the  very  least 
among  us. 

Not  an  Israelite  in  all  the  camp  could  be  saved 
from  the  deadly  poison  of  the  serpent's  bite  who  did 
not  look  upon  the  brazen  image  lifted  up  in  the  midst 
of  the  people.  Look  elsewhere  and  he  must  die. 
There  was  no  help  for  him.  So,  in  this  passage,  Jesus 
affirms  that  he  must  be  lifted  up — that  is,  crucified — 
and  that  only  those  who  turn  to  him,  believing,  shall 
be  saved.  He  teaches  that  the  poison  of  sin  is  coun- 
teracted and  destroyed  by  the  look  of  faith.  If  that 
is  not  the  meaning  of  his  words  to  Nicodemus,  what 
do  they  mean? 

Thank  God,  he  does  not  require  strong,  heroic, 
mighty  faith.  No  doubt  that  is  greatly  to  be  desired, 
but  it  is  not  essential.  A  man  can  look,  though  his 
sight  be  dim,  he  can  look,  if  he  has  only  one  eye,  and 
that  almost  gone;  yea,  he  can  look  if  he  is  blind.  He 
can  look  with  the  mind.  He  can  turn  his  attention 
in  the  direction  indicated,  and  that  is  all  that  is  nec- 
essary. What  Jesus  wants  us  to  do,  what  he  sol- 
emnly declares  we  must  do,  or  perish,  is  to  trust  in 
him  alone  as  our  atonement,  and  he  who  does  that 
shall  be  saved,  though  his  faith  be  as  a  grain  of  mus- 
tard seed,  for  the  salvation  is  not  in  the  faith,  but  in 
faith's  object. 

Another  striking  statement,  made  at  the  very  close 


—  73  — 

of  his  ministr}^  is  all  I  shall  have  time  to  trouble  you 
with.  To  the  two  disciples  on  the  way  to  Emmaus  he 
said:  "  Tims  it  is  written  and  thus  it  behooved  Christ 
to  suffer,  and  to  rise  from  the  dead  the  third  day,  and 
that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be 
preached  in  his  name  among  all  nations,  beginning  at 
Jerusalem."  Here,  you  observe,  he  makes  his  suffer- 
ings, his  atonement,  the  ground  upon  which  sin  is 
forgiven.  It  is  that  sacrifice  that  enables  him 
to  be  just  and  the  justiiier  of  the  ungodly.  It 
is  that  sacrifice  that  enables  him  to  vindicate 
his  own  holiness,  while,  at  the  same  time  he  takes 
the  sinner  to  his  heart.  But  remember  that  sac- 
rifice will  avail  only  for  those  who  avail  themselves 
of  it.  The  atonement  has  been  made  for  all  the  race, 
but  it  never  was  intended  to  save  the  man  who  will 
not  accept  it.  God,  in  his  infinite  love  and  compas- 
sion, provides  it,  but  the  sinner  must  appropriate  it,  or 
it  is  nothing  to  him. 

There  are  many  of  you  here  this  morning  who  have 
taken  shelter  behind  the  Cross,  and  have  been 
sprinkled  with  tKe  blood  of  that  great  sacrifice.  I  con- 
gratulate you  upon  your  deliverance.  You  have  made 
your  calling  and  election  sure  by  your  choice  of  him 
that  was  slain.  By  the  grace  of  God,  which  bringeth 
salvation,  your  sins  have  been  buried  forever  under 
the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ.  You  are  the  ransomed 
of  the  Lord,  and  are  on  your  way  to  glory.  I  bid 
you,  all  hail.  The  winds  may  be  contrary,  storms 
may  beat  upon  you,   temptations  may  throw  them- 


—  74  — 

selves  across  your  path  and  seek  to  turn  you  back,  but 
he  of  the  pierced  hands  and  feet  will  see  you  through. 
Your  frail  craft  may  pitch  and  toss  about  and  threaten 
to  go  down,  but  with  Christ  in  the  vessel  you  will 
reach  the  shore.  I  congratul'ate  you,  and  bid  you  be 
of  good  cheer.  "  His  love  is  a  stream  that  never 
freezes,  a  fountain  that  never  fails,  a  sun  that  never 
sets  in  night,  a  shield  that  never  breaks  in  fight;  whom 
he  loveth  he  loveth  to  the  end."  Fear  not,  none  shall 
ever  pluck  you  from  God's  hand.-  It  were  easier  to 
pluck  a  star  from  the  brow  of  heaven.  Only  see  to  it 
that  you  adorn  the  doctrine  of  the  hour  by  a, godly 
walk  and  conversation. 

But  there  are  some  among  you  whose  faces  are  the 
other  way.  The  Good  Shepherd  is  after  you.  He  has 
traveled  far  and  suffered  much  to  bring  you  back.  He 
has  left  his  footprints  on  the  jagged  mountains,  and 
his  blood  on  the  wayside  thorns,  "as  he  went  to  the 
desert  to  find  his  sheep."  He  has  laid  down  his  life 
to  win  you,  to  bring  you  where  you  might  pillow  your 
weary  head  close  to  his  beating  heart,  and  can  you^ 
will  you,  turn  away  indifferent  still?  I  leave  the 
question  with  you,  only  pausing  long  enough  to  say 
that  as  is  your  answer  so  will  be  your  eternity,  with 
Christ  or  without  Christ,  inside  of  that  great  temple 
of  which  he  is  the  Light,  or  outside. 


WHAT    CHRIST    TEACHES    US    TO    BELIEVE 
ABOUT  THE  BIBLE. 


"  Making  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect,  through  your  tradi- 
tion, which  ye  have  delivered."— il/arfc  7:  IS. 

"And  he  said  unto  them,  these  are  the  words  which  I  spoke 
unto  you,  that  all  things  must  be  fulfilled  which  were  written  in 
the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets  concerning  me." — Luke 

"  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law,  or  the  prophets; 
I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you, 
till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass 
from  the  law,  till  all  be  fulfilled."— il/a«.  5: 17,  18. 


THE  battle  for  the  truth  never  ceases  to  rage.  Eor 
those  who  are  in  earnest  there  is  no  discharge  in 
that  war.  The  contestants  are  always  in  the  field  and 
the  fight  is  always  on.  They  change  their  tactics  and 
shift  their  positions  from  time  to  time,  but  there  is  no 
surcease  of  conflict.  A  few  years  ago  the  tides  of  bat- 
tle surged  about  the  Christ.  The  best  scholarship  and 
the  keenest  criticism  of  the  century  were  enlisted,  and 
when  the  atmosphere  cleared,  as  the  struggle  subsided, 
there  he  stood,  as  always,  mighty  to  save,  the  wonder- 
ful, the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace. 


—  76  — 

To-day  the  Bible  is  tlie  centre  around  which  the 
contest  gathers.  The  rattle  of  intellectual  artillery  is 
heard  all  along  the  line,  and  splendid  flashes  of 
rhetorical  fireworks  disturb  the  sky.  Even  our  secu- 
lar papers  have  taken  si.des,  and,  as  usual,  have  de- 
cided the  matter  with  characteristic  dispatch.  It 
would  be  amusing,  perhaps,  if  it  were  not  so  absurd, 
to  see  with  what  an  infallible  air  they  dispose  of  the 
most  serious  problems  that  can  engage  the  thought  of 
man.  In  this  case,  as  might  have  been  expected,  their 
conclusions  are  in  favor  of  the  critics,  who,  in  dealing 
with  the  Bible,  use  the  penknife  of  Jehudi.  As  to 
the  issue  of  the  battle  we  have  no  doubt  whatever. 
The  Book  will  stand  in  its  integrity.  It  is  an  anvil  that 
has  worn  out  a  great  many  hammers.  It  will  come  out 
of  this,  as  it  has  come  out  of  every  previous  fire  of 
conflict,  unscathed  and  entire,  not  weakened,  but 
strengthened  and  glorified  by  the  ordeal.  In  the 
meanwhile  it  will  serve  to  plant  our  feet  more  squarely 
on  the  Rock,  and  give  firmer  fibre  to  our  faith  to  turn 
from  men  and  warring  schools  to  see  what  Jesus  Christ 
teaches  us  to  believe  about  the  Book. 

Before  proceeding  to  this,  however,  it  may  be  well 
to  ask  whether  Christ  is  a  competent  judge  in  this 
case?  Is  he  by  grasp  of  mind,  by  spiritual  insight,  by 
purity  of  life,  and  poise  of  character  qualified  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  the  Book  which  we  regard  as  Holy 
Writ?  To  ask  the  question  is  to  answer  it.  The  mar- 
velous reach  of  his  intellect  is  everywhere  seen  in  his 
words  and  sayings.     His  mind  penetrated  at  once  to 


tlie  very  heart  of  things  and  seized  upon  ultimate 
principles.  To  be  impressed  with  the  unapproachable 
quality  of  his  mental  calibre  it  is  only  necessary  to 
study  his  answers  to  certain  questions  that  were  put 
to  him.  These  answers  were,  in  every  case,  extempo- 
raneous, unpremeditated,  but  they  were  so  complete, 
so  crushing,  so  profound,  and  yet  so  plain  and  pointed, 
that  they  effectually  silenced  his  enemies,  and  those 
enemies  were  among  the  keenest  and  most  able  men 
of  their  day.  For  three  years  they  exercised  all  their 
ingenuity  to  entangle  him;  they  brought  forward 
every  difficulty  they  could  think  of  in  the  Scriptures^ 
but  his  replies  were  so  clear,  so  convincing,  so  severe 
upon  themselves,  that  it  is  said  "They  durst  not  any 
more  ask  him  any  questions." 

No  matter  how  high,  no  matter  how  deep,  the  ethi- 
cal problem,  Jesus  was  at  home  in  it.  He  dealt  with 
it  like  one  who  saw  it  in  all  its  bearings,  near  and  re- 
mote. He  had  read  the  Scriptures,  and  read  human 
life,  and  penetrated  both  to  the  very  core.  His 
power  of  condensation  was  superhuman.  He  could 
crowd  a  whole  world  of  truth  into  a  little  sentence  of 
a  few  simple  words.  Now  all  this  means  transcendent, 
intellectual  force. 

As  to  his  spiritual  insight  I  need  not  trouble  you  to 
speak  a  word.  Every  reader  of  the  Gospels  knows  how 
he  saw  into  the  very  depths.  When  he  turned  to  the 
law  and  the  prophets  he  saw  not  the  letter,  not  books 
and  chapters,  but  the  spiritual  truth  behind.  So.  in 
reading  human  life.     He  saw  at  once  the  motive,  the 


i 


spirit  by  which  men  were  actuated,  and  not  that  which 
was  external  and  mechanical. 

And  where  else  will  you  find  such  moral  integrity? 
His  life  has  been  scrutinized  for  nineteen  centuries  by 
friends  and  foes  alike,  and  not  a  flaw  has  ever  yet  been 
detected.  "  Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin?,"  his 
own  challenge  to  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  has  never 
yet  been  answered.  Out  of  all  the  fires  of  criticism, 
out  of  the  crucible  of  ages  of  intense  investigation, 
that  life  has  come,  unsullied  as  a  sunbeam,  pure  as  the 
great  White  Throne.  To  all  this  add  the  fact  of  his 
perfect  poise  of  character,  his  evenness  of  temper  in  . 
every  storm  that  beat  about  him,  his  calmness  and^ 
patience  under  abuse,  the  absolute  impartiality  of  his 
judgment,  and  I  think  3'ou  will  agree  with  me  that 
he  is  abundantly  qualified  to  teach  us  concerning  the 
Bible.  We  are  prepared,  therefore,  to  sit  at  his  feet 
to  learn  what  he  has  to  say  about  the  Book. 

At  the  outset,  then,  he  teaches  us  to  believe  that  the 
Bible  is  the  Word  of  God.  He  so  characterizes  the  en- 
tire Old  Testament.  He  sharply  rebukes. the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  for  making  the  Word  of  God  of  none 
effect  through  their  traditions,  and  by  that  Word  is 
clearly  meant  the  Holy  Scriptures,  so  far  as  they  were 
then  written.  He  never  questioned  the  sacred  oracles, 
as  he  had  learned  them  in  the  home  of  Joseph  and 
Mary.  He  lived  in  them.  He  taught  them.  He 
bowed  before  their  divine  authority.  He  confounded 
the  Pharisees  and  silenced  the  Saducees  by  quoting 
from  Moses,  and,  in  John   10:35,  making  the  Word  of 


79  — 


God  synonymous  with  Scripture,  he  solemnly  declares 
that  the  Scripture  cannot  he  broken.  It  is  the  fash- 
ion now-a-days,  in  certain  quarters,  to  rule  out  some  of 
the  alleged  writings  of  Moses,  which  comprise  the  first 
live  books  of  the  Bible  as  not  being  part  of  the  inspired 
record,  but  Jesus  quotes  from  every  one  of  them,  and 
always  as  the  Word  of  God.  So,  also,  he  quotes  from 
Samuel,  from  Kings,  from  Chronicles,  from  the  Psalms, 
from  the  Prophets,  and  puts  them  in  the  same  cate- 
gory as  belonging  to  the  Word  of  God.  Now,  Jesus 
liad  studied  these  writings  profoundly  in  his  Nazareth 
home.  He  had  brought  to  bear  upon  them  all  of  his 
peerless  powers,  and  mastered  them,  as  his  facility  in 
quotation  shows.  Hence,  he  must  have  known 
whether  they  were  true  or  false,  and,  especially,  since 
he  was  the  Son  of  God.  But  if  they  are  false,  if  they 
are  not  the  Word  of  God,  could  he  have  given  them 
his  unqualified  endorsement,  consistently  with  his  pure 
and  holy  life?  Would  a  person  of  such  exalted  char- 
acter have  resorted  to  the  poor  trick  of  quoting  from 
spurious  scriptures  to  fortify  his  own  claims?  Would 
he,  who  calls  himself  the  Truth,  and  who  has  a  right 
to  that  pre-eminence,  have  put  his  imprimatur  upon 
documents  which  were  counterfeit?  To  me,  at  least, 
such  a  thing  seems  not  only  incredible,  but  absurd, 
and  I  leave  the  critics  to  wrestle  with  it,  while  I  stand 
with  Jesus  Christ.  What  he  quotes  as  the  Word  of 
God  I  believe  that  you  and  I  are  warranted  in  fear- 
lessly quoting  as  the  Word  of  God,  also. 

He  does  not  teach  any  particular  theory  of  inspira- 


—  80  — 

tion.  He  does  not  tell  us  how  these  writings  of  Moses 
and  the  prophets  were  inspired,  whether  b}^  dictation 
or  illumination,  or  a  certain  superintendency  which 
saved  the  authors  from  error,  or  whether  the  gold  was 
supplied  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  molds  by  man. 
AH  such  nice  questions  as  these  were  left  to  human 
wisdom.  He  simply  tells  us  that  these  Scriptures  are 
the  Word  of  God,  and  his  teaching  ought  to  have  its 
proper  w^eight.  He  claims  divine  inspiration  for  his 
own  words.  Thus:  "The  word  which  ye  hear  is  not 
mine,  but  the  Father's,  who  sent  me."  And  in  like 
manner  he  teaches  us  the  inspiration  of  the  Apostles. 
He  promises  them  the  Spirit  who,  he  declares,  will 
"guide  them  into  all  truth,"  and  "bring  all  things  to 
their  remembrance."  Hence  he  teaches  us  to  believe 
that  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  the  Word 
of  God. 

Passing  from  this,  let  me  ask  you  to  notice  in  the 
next  place  that  he  makes  Jiimself  the  centre  upon  which 
all  lines  of  Holy  Writ  converge.  In  John  5:39,  he  says  of 
the  Scriptures:  "  These  are  they  which  testify  of  me.'' 
And  in  the  46th  verse  of  the  same  chapter  he  speaks 
as  follows:  "  For  if  ye  believed  Moses  ye  would  be- 
lieve me,  for  he  lurote  of  me."  Again,  in  the  24th  of 
Luke,  beginning  at  the  44tli  verse,  he  says  to  his 
Apostles:  "These  are  the  words  which  I  spoke  unto 
you,  while  I  was  yet  with  you,  that  all  things  must 
be  fulfilled  which  were  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  and 
in  the  Prophets,  and  in  the  Psalms,  concerning  me. 
Then  opened  he  their  understanding  that  they  might 


—  81  — 

understand  the  Scriptures,  and  said  unto  them,  Thus 
it  is  written,  and  thus  it  behooved  Christ  to  suffer,  and 
to  rise  from  the  dead  the  third  day,  and  that  repent- 
ance and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  his 
name  among  all  nations,  beginning  at  Jerusalem." 
This  is  certainly  remarkable  language.  Remember 
that  it  comes  from  the  lips  of  the  Son  of  God.  He 
calmly  and  deliberately  puts  himself  forward  as  con- 
stituting the  ver}^  sum  and  substance  of  law  and 
prophec}^  and  psalm.  In  terms  too  plain  to  be  mis- 
understood lie  affirms  that  the  Scriptures  bear  "  one 
common,  supreme  testimony,  not  to  a  shadowy  hope, 
not  to  a  mere  human  postulate  of  faith,  but  to  a  Per- 
son, the  Saviour,  w4io  should  live  and  die  and  rise 
again  for  the  salvation  of  man,"  and  that  Saviour  is 
himself 

Thus  the  Word  of  God  is  a  wondrous  house  of  many 
mansions,  of  which  Christ  is  the  key.  Without  him 
its  treasures  are  locked  up,  they  are  hidden,  and  no 
human  ingenuity  can  steal  its  way  into  their  untold 
wealth.  With  him  every  door  in  its  sixty-six  apart- 
ments can  be  opened  and  their  precious  contents 
brought  to  light.  Apart  from  Him  the  Bible  is  a 
sealed  book.  Its  types,  its  symbols,  its  sacrifices,  its 
prophecies,  and  many  of  its  historic  allusions  are  in- 
comprehensible. They  are  like  the  hieroglyphics  on 
some  ancient  obelisk.  They  evidently  mean  some- 
thing, but,  without  the  key,  nobody  can  tell  what.  So, 
without  Christ,  the  Word  of  God  is  beyond  our  ken. 
We  have  types  with  no  answering  antitype.     Shad- 


—  82  — 

ows  pointing  to  no  explanatory  light,  hints  of  a  Com- 
ing One  that  only  mock  and  baffle  the  searcher  after 
truth,  prophecies  that  never  issue  in  fulfillment. 
Many  a  devout  student  lias  found  that  he  could  make 
nothing  out  of  these  Scriptures  until  he  began  their 
interpretation  .from  Christ  as  the  centre.  As  soon  as 
he  did  that  he  was  amazed  and  delighted  to  see  how 
the  Book  yielded  up  its  secrets  and  how^  the  light  fell 
upon  its  dark  places.  It  used  to  be  said  in  olden 
times  that  every  road  led  to  Rome;  and  it  is  true  now, 
and  always,  that  every  pathway  in  Holy  Writ, 
wdiether  marked  out  by  Moses  or  the  Prophets,  finds 
its  centre  and  terminus  in  Jesus  Christ.  So  he  taught 
himself,  and  the  lesson  cannot  be  too  thoroughly 
written  upon  our  hearts.  The  scientific  student  who 
should  undertake  to  interpret  the  Mississippi  Valley 
with  tlie  Father  of  Waters  left  out,  w^ould  have  a  task 
no  more  difficult,  to  say  the  least,  than  would  the 
student  who  should  try  to  understand  the  Bible  witli 
the  Lord  Jesus  left  out.  He  is  as  essential  to  a  correct 
knowledge  of  the  drift  and  purpose  of  the  Bible  as 
Hamlet  is  to  a  correct  conception  of  the  great  tragedy 
that  bears  his  name. 

Moreover,  by  Jtis  own  example,  he  teaches  us  to  rest 
calmly  and  confidently  on  the  written  and  indestructi- 
ble Word  of  Cfod.  His  own  attitude  toward  this  book 
shows  more  forcibly  than  any  words  could,  the  esti- 
mate he  puts  upon  it.  His  utterances  standing  alone, 
unsupported  by  his  example,  would  liave  little  or  no 
weight;  not  enough,  certainly,  to  be  convincing,    i^ut 


—  83  — 

he  practiced  what  he  preached.  If  He  taught  others 
to  confide  in  the  Book  [he  did  so  himself  most  im- 
plicitly. If  lie  spoke  of  the  Book  with  the  utmost 
assurance,  he  trusted  it  with  the  utmost  assurance. 
Here,  as  everywhere,  there  is  no  disparity  between  his 
sayings  and  doings. 

In  the  Wilderness,  when  the  Tempter  came  and  ex- 
ercised all  his  ingenuity  to  poison  his  mind  with 
doubt;  when  he  came  with  his  mouth  filled  with  ifs, 
did  Jesus  stop  to  parley?  Did  he  argue?  Did  he 
take  refuge  in  his  wit  or  his  genius?  Not  for  a  mo- 
ment. But  he  said,  "  It  is  written."  He  said  it  three 
several  times,  and  each  time  with  keener  accent.  He 
met  the  enemy  with  no  untempered  blade,  but  with 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of  God. 
To  beat  him,  and  scathe  him,  and  hurl  him  back,  he 
laid  hold  of  this  battery  of  heaven  and  plucked  the 
lightning  from  the  skies.  There  was  no  questioning 
the  justice  of  the  fearful  struggle.  His  energies  were 
not  allowed  to  evaporate  in  vague  wondering  as  to 
why  it  was  thus  and  so.  He  simply  threw  himself 
back  upon  the  Word,  and  there  he  rested  in  calm 
acquiescence  with  the  will  of  his  Father. 

Again,  when  a  certain  lawyer  came  inquiring  what 
he*  should  do  to  inherit  eternal  life,  Jesus  did  not  de- 
pend upon  his  own  skill  and  cleverness  for  an  answer. 
He  referred  him  to  the  Word,  and  said,  "  How  read- 
est  thou  ?"  The  lawyer  quoted  the  well-known  pas- 
sage about  love  to  God  and  love  to  man,  and  Jesus 
i^aid,  "Thou  hast  answered  right;  this  do  and  thou 


—  84  — 

shalt  live."  Scripture  was  to  him  the  answer  to  all 
questions;  the  solution  of  all  problems  bearing  upon 
man's  relation  to  his  neighbor  and  his  God. 

In  the  most  solemn  hours  of  his  life,  in  his  conflicts, 
his  trials,  his  sufferings,  the  Written  Word  was  ever 
on  his  lips.  He  said  repeatedly  that  things  turned 
out  so  and  so  in  order  that  the  Scriptures  might  be 
fulfilled.  And  when  the  final  storm  gathered  about 
him  and  culminated  on  the  Cross,  he  rested  his  soul 
on  that  Word,  "  amid  the  cyclone  of  death,"  and  the 
last  sayings  he  uttered,  as  he  hung  upon  the  tree,  were 
quotations  from  the  Psalms.  If,  therefore,  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus,  embodied  both  in  speech  and  example, 
i^  to  be  relied  upon,  the  Scriptures  are  the  Word  of 
God.  If  we  believe  Him  we  must  believe  them.  This 
assertion  will  bear  investigation,  and  I  commend  it  to 
your  most  careful  and  candid  consideration. 

Not  only,  however,  does  He  assure  us  that  the 
Scriptures  are  the  Word  of  God,  and  that  He  is  their 
central  theme,  but  that  they  are  to  stand.  In  his  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  he  says,  **  Think  not  that  I  am 
come  to  destroy  the  law,  or  the  prophets;  I  am  not 
come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill.  For  verily  I  say  unto 
you,  till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle 
shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled.'^ 
With  still  warmer  emi)hasis,  if  possible,  he  declares  in 
Luke  16:17:  "It  is  easier  for  heaven  and  earth  to 
pass  than  one  tittle  of  the,  law  to  fail."  He  was  not 
afraid  that  the  Book  would  become  obsolete  and  per- 
ish.    He  was  not  afraid  that  the  world  would  out- 


—  85  — 

grow  it,  and  the  wisdom  of  man  supersede  it.  He 
took  it  up  reverently  and,  looking  at  it,  he  said, 
"  This  Book  is  to  abide.  Think  not  that  it  will  ever 
vanish  away  and  be  forgotten,"  and  his  faith  in  its 
staying  qualities  ought  to  strengthen  ours. 

When  the  Emperor  of  Rome  was  being  ferried 
across  a  certain  stormy,  water  the  boatman  became 
pale  with  fright.  He  thought  they  were  going  to  be 
swallowed  up  by  the  wave,  but  the  Emperor  inspired 
him  with  courage  by  saying :  "  Fear  not,  you  carry 
Ca)sar."  80,  though  the  storms  may  rage  around  it 
and  threaten  to  engulf,  this  boat  of  Holy  Writ  will 
ride  the  billow  and  outlive  the  tempest,  for  it  carries 
the  Son  of  God,  whose  hand  is  on  the  storm. 

Out  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  there  runs  into 
the  sea  a  dangerous  bar  some  forty  or  fifty  miles  in 
length.  The  water,  we  are  told,  sweeps  around  it  with 
a  treniendous  swell,  making  navigation  extremely  per- 
ilous at  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  Around  this  cape 
an  East  Indiaman,  called  the  Lady  HoUahd,  was 
fighting  her  way  in  the  year  1830,  bound  for  Hindoo- 
stan.  For  days  and  days  clouds  filled  the  sky.  Again 
and  again  the  vessel  was  beaten  out  of  her  course. 
Soundings  were  taken,  and  the  Captain  found  that 
the  ship  was  over  the  bar.  Realizing  the  peril  of  her 
position,  he  was  just  about  to  give  orders  to  turn 
about.  ,  But  it  was  too  late.  With  an  awful  crash  she 
struck.  Her  back  was  broken,  and  her  forepart  sank 
in  the  wild  breakers.  As  Providence  would  have  it, 
however,  all  on  board  escaped  to  a  little  patch  of  land 


—  86  — 

amid  the  rocks.  Among  them  was  a  young  man 
from  Scotland  by  the  name  of  Alexander  Duff.  He 
was  going  out  as  a  missionary  to  India.  While  the 
shipwrecked  passengers  were  huddled  together  for 
shelter  in  a  wretched  little  hovel,  a  sailor,  walking 
along  the  beach,  found  a  Bible  cast  up  high  and  dry. 
He  opened  it,  and  found  Alexander  Duff's  name  dis- 
tinctly written  in  it.  Out  of  a  library  of  800  volumes 
which  he  was  taking  to  India  it  was  the  only  one 
saved.  AVhat  is  still  more  singular,  it  had  been 
packed  with  the  other  books,  but  had  been  carefully 
wrapped  in  chamois  skin,  and  was  not  even  injured. 
He  took  the  book,  and  to  the  drenched  and  shivering 
passengers  read  the  107th  Psalm.  * 

The  incident  made  a  profound  and  lasting  impres- 
sion on  the  young  man's  mind.  He  took  it  as  the 
voice  of  Providence  declaring  that  the  Bible  is  the 
♦Supreme  Book  for  India  and  for  mankind.  But  the 
significant  part  of  the  story  for  us  is  the  striking  illus- 
tration it  gives  us  of  the  history  of  the  Bible,  the  expe- 
riences through  which  it  has  come,  the  storms  which 
it  has  outlived.  To  wreck  it,  to  destroy  it,  has  been 
impossible.  Men  like  Cfibbon  and  Hume,  and  Vol- 
taire, and  Paine,  and  Ingersoll,  have  turned  all  the 
artillery  [of  their  wit,  their  satire,  their  ridicule  and 
their  eloquence  upon  it,  but  still  it  stands,  as  Jesus 
.said.  To  refute  it,  to  prove  it  unreliable,  travelers 
liave  searched  the  ruins  of  ancient  cities,  like  Volney, 
and  mighty  scholars  have  ransacked  history  and  sci- 

***The  Inspired  Word,"  page  11. 


—  87  — 

ence,  but  still  it  stands.  To  undermine  it  and  gain- 
say its  claims,  geologists  have  digged  into  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  and  astronomers  have  delved  among  the 
stars,  but  still  it  stands.  About  fifty  years  ago  the 
higher  critics  began  their  attacks.  They  assaulted  it 
here  and  assaulted  there,  now  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  now  in  the  New,  and  their  assaults  have  been 
kept  up  and  multiplied  from  year  to  year,  but  still  it 
stands.  The  half  century  in  which  it  has  sustained 
the  most  determined  and  skillful  assaults  has  been 
precisely  the  half  century  of  its  greatest  triumphs. 

KSince  John  wrote  on  lonely  Patmos,  and  Paul  wrote 
in  his  "  own  hired  house  "  in  Rome,  the  whole  face  of 
the  world  has  been  changed,  turned  upside  down,  em- 
pires have  fallen  and  empires  have  risen,  science  and 
philosophy  have  changed  front  again  and  again,  and 
hoary  systems  have  dropped  from  behind  the  curtains 
of  the  past,  but  the  Bible  stands.  Xot  one  jot  or  tittle 
of  God's  Word  has  passed  away.  Jesus  said  it  would 
abide,  and  he  knew  what  he  was  talking  about.  What 
he  says  is  worth  believing.  Celsus  was  famous  once,. 
Voltaire  was  famous  once,  Bolingbroke  was  famous 
once.  AVhen  they  opened  their  mouths  it  was  as 
though  Sir  Oracle  had  spoken.  But  where  are  their 
books  to-day?  They  are  either  long  ago  out  of  print, 
or  feeding  the  moth  on  dusty  shelves,  or  forming 
buttresses  from  w^hich  the  deft  spider  suspends  his 
web,  but  the  Bible  stands,  and  was  never  so  widely 
known,  or  so  deeply  loved,  or  so  devoutly  studied,  or 
so  mighty  in  power,  as  in  this  year  of  grace,  1891. 


—  88  — 

Many  of  the  interpretations  put  upon  it  by  schools 
and  commentators  are  passing  away,  but  we  need  not 
weep  over  that.  Who  cares  for  the  scaffolding  so  long 
as  the  building  remains?  Let  it  go,  if  its  work  is 
done.  The  building  will  look  better  and  be  better 
without  it.  Interpretations  are  not  sacred.  Interpre- 
tations are  not  inspired.  The  scaffolding  is  useful, 
but  it  does  not  belong  to  the  architect's  plan.  Interpre- 
tations are  going.  They  have  gone  in  the  past,  and 
they  will  go  in  the  future,  but  what  of  that,  so  long  as 
the  Book  interpreted  abides?  When  the  rain  comes 
and  the  water  pours  in  torrents  along  the  streets,  you 
are  not  afraid  that  your  houses  are  going  to  be  washed 
away.  The  filth  will  go,  the  rubbish  will  go,  all  un- 
necessary accumulations  will  go,  but  you  are  glad  of 
that,  for  it  will  leave  things  cleaner  and  more  whole- 
some. So  these  showers  of  investigation,  and  these 
torrents  of  criticism  that  are  falling  upon  the  Book 
will,  no  doubt,  sweep  away  some  old  interpretations 
which  we  have  loved  and  to  which  we  have  clung,  but 
they  will  leave,  not  a  mutilated  Bible, not  a  fragment- 
ary Bible,  but  the' complete  Bible,  as  we  now  have  it, 
more  perfectly  understood  and  more  highly  prized 
than  ever. 

We  need  have  no  fears  for  the  Book,  fellow-men.  It 
will  stand,  for  Jesus  said  so.  It  can  never  die,  for  He, 
its  heart,  its  life,  is  immortal.  It  will  be  opposed,  it 
will  be  attacked  with  growing  fierceness  as  its  victo- 
ries multiply,  but,  like  the  birds  which  beat  them- 
selves to  death  against  the  glass  globes  that  surround 


the  electric  lights  of  the  city,  those  who  assault  it  will 
be  flung  back  defeated,  baffled,  while  it  shines  on 
with  brightening  ray  as  the  night  of  time  wears 
toward  eternal  dawn. 


JESUS  CHRIST— MYTH,  OR  MAN,  OR  GOD? 


••In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The  same  was  in  the  beginning 
with  God.  All  things  were  made  by  Him,  and  without  Him  was 
not  anything  made  that  was  made.  In  Him  was  life,  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men.  And  the  light  shineth  in  darkness,  and  the 
darkness  comprehended  it  noV^— John,  1:1-5. 


AS  we  approach  the  Christmas-tide,  when  the 
humanity  of  our  Lord  will  be  emphasized,  it  is 
fitting  that  we  should  fortify  our  faith  in  the  divine 
side  of  His  nature.  We  need  to  be  very  sure  of  His 
divinity,  for  our  own  sakes,  and,  as  we  live  in  a  com- 
munity where  His  divinity  is  frequently  challenged, 
we  ought  to  be  so  thoroughly  grounded  in  this  doc- 
trine as  to  be  able  to  defend  it  against  all  gainsayers 
for  the  sake  of  our  Christianity.  With  these  thoughts 
in  mind,  therefore,  I  am  to  speak  to  you  this  morning 
on  the  deity  of  Jesus.  I  shall  endeavor  to  prove,  botli 
by  reason  and  Scripture,  that  He  is  one  with  the 
Father,  "very  God  of  very  God." 

No  thoughtful  mind  can  pass  lightly  over  the  words 
of  our  text.  They  arrest  the  attention  at  once.  There 
is  in  them  the  boom  of  infinity.  These  are  not  the 
waves  of  any  interior  lake  that  we  hear  splashing 


—  91  — 

upon  the  shore,  but  the  solemn  thunder  of  the  bound- 
less sea.  For  fullness  of  meaning,  for  clearness  of  state- 
ment, and  for  simple  majesty  of  expression,  the  passage 
is  without  a  parallel.  Francis  Junius,  the  distinguished 
scholar,  who  owed  to  this  passage  his  spiritual  enlight- 
enment, was  profoundly  impressed  with  "  the  authority 
of  the  composition,"  and  characterized  it  as  "  infinitely 
surpassing  the  highest  flights  of  human  eloquence." 
How  came  a  plain,  unlettered  fisherman  to  write  in 
this  fashion  ? 

When  a  biographer  sits  down  to  write  a  book  he 
usually  goes  into  the  ancestry  of  his  subject.  He  con- 
siders it  important  to  know  something  of  his  pedigree. 
Accordingly,  we  And  Matthew  tracing  the  descent  of 
our  Lord  back  to  Abraham.  Luke  is  still  more  thor- 
ough, and  traces  it  from  Adam  ;  but  John  pushes  back 
into  the  very  home  of  Eternity,  and  says :  "  In  the 
beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God^ 
and  the  Word  was  God."  You  understand,  of  course, 
that  he  is  speaking  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whose  char- 
acter is  simply  and  fully  set  before  us  in  the  gospels. 
About  this  unique  and  wonderful  character  innumer- 
able books  have  been  written.  It  is  admitted  by  all 
that  it  stands  alone.  It  has  challenged  the  admira- 
tion of  the  world.  The  shafts  of  criticism  have  fallen 
about  it  as  impotently  as  arrows  drop  to  the  ground 
when  shot  against  a  ledge  of  frowning  granite.  The 
Person  to  whom  this  unrivalled  character  belongs  has 
been  and  is  to-day  accounted  for  in  three  ways,  whose 
comparative  merits  you  are  now  asked  to  examine  with 
me  and  carefully  weigh. 


—  92  — 

I.  First,  there  are  those  who  tell  us  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  an  invention,  a  creation  of  the  imagination.  This 
view  of  the  casew^as  revived  and  advocated  with  great 
ability  some  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  by  David  Strauss 
of  Germany,  and  still  has  its  champions.  There  have 
been  mythical  characters — such,  for  example,  as  Wil- 
liam Tell — which  for  centuries  have  been  accepted  as 
historical.  But  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  all  such  char- 
acters fall  infinitely  below  that  of  Jesus.  They  are 
imperfect;  His  is  conceded  to  be  perfect. 

In  literature,  we  find  that  men  have  attempted,  in 
two  w^ays,  to  draw  a  perfect  character,  viz.,  from  life 
and  from  the  imagination,  real  characters  and  ficti- 
tious characters;  but  both  have  failed.  In  the  former 
case,  because  there  have  been  no  perfect  characters  to 
describe;  and,  in  the  second  case,  because  an  imper- 
fect imagination  is  not  able  to  conceive  an  absolutely 
blameless  manhood.  Take  Shakespeare,  and,  with  all 
his  matchless  genius,  has  he  invented  one  perfect  char- 
acter? Run  through  all  the  masterpieces  of  fiction 
and  see  if  you  can  find  a  solitary  life  delineated  that 
will  bear  the  closest  inspection  on  every  side.  You 
are  sure  to  detect  a  weak  spot  somewhere.  Take  the 
most  complete  model  that  fiction  has  ever  given  to  the 
world,  compare  it  with  the  model  portrayed  in  these 
gospels,  and  see  how  it  darkens,  like  a  candle  held  up 
before  the  sun. 

Now  look  for  a  moment  at  this  Jesus  as  He  is  de- 
scribed in  the  gospel  narrative.  He  is  a  Jew,  "  a 
member  of  the  most  exclusive  race  that  ever  lived," 


—  93  — 

yet  He  is  set  before  us,  and  that,  too,  by  Jewish  writers, 
us  no  respecter  of  persons.  His  love  is  as  broad  as 
humanity.  He  is  of  the  seed-royal,  yet  the  friend 
and  companion  of  the  poor.  He  is  original,  but  never 
eccentric;  holy,  but  never  sanctimonious;  serious,  but 
nev^er  sour;  stern,  but  never  severe;  tender,  but  never 
weak.  Enamelled  hypocrisy  He  denounces  in  terms 
that  wither  and  burn  like  a  fire,  but  to  the  poor  out- 
cast, the  w^anderer,  the  prodigal.  He  speaks  in  w^ords 
as  sw^eet  as  heaven.  Though  born  in  a  manger  and 
schooled  in  a  carpenter's  shop,  when  He  opens  His 
mouth  men  listen,  spell-bound,  and  the  ages  listen. 
While  He  mingles  with  men,  and  sits  at  their  tables, 
and  enters  into  their  experiences,  yet  He  seems  to 
walk  among  the  stars.  He  prays  as  naturally  as  He 
breathes,  and  talks  of  God  as  familiarly  as  man  speaks 
of  his  nearest  neighbor.  As  pure  as  a  lily,  He  is, 
nevertheless,  tempted  to  sin  as  no  mortal  was  ever 
tempted.  He  provides  bread  for  the  multitudes  with 
the  utmost  ease,  yet  appeases  His  own  hunger  by  eat- 
ing raw  corn  in  the  field.  Able  to  bring  money  from 
the  mouth  of  a  fish  to  pay  the  custom  dues  of  Himself 
and  His  friend  Peter,  He  is,  nevertheless,  so  poor  that 
He  has  not  where  to  lay  His  head.  He  raises  the 
dead,  yet  dies  Himself  by  the  hand  of  Pharisaic  hate. 
"  He  saved  others;  Himself  He  could  not  save,"  such, 
very  briefi}^-  sketched,  is  the  character  w^hich  the  gos- 
pel writers  give  us;  and  no  one,  so  far  as  I  know,  has 
ever  yet  claimed  that  they  were  geniuses.  They  wxre 
not  even  men  of  learning.     Luke  was  the  most  schol- 


—  94  — 

arly  among  them,  but  the  style  of  Greek  he  uses  shows 
that  he  was  not  a  highly  educated  man. 

The  question  then  is  pertinent:  Did  these  men  in- 
vent the  character  of  Jesus  Christ?  Virgil,  w^ho  lived 
and  wrote  just  a  short  time  before  their  day,  is  con- 
ceded to  have  been  a  great  genius.  His  hero  was  the 
pious  ^neas,  but  who  would  dare  to  set  up  the  Roman 
poet's  conception  against  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom 
fishermen  and  publicans  delineate.  If  it  required  a 
genius  to  invent  ^-Eneas,  could  common  men  invent  a 
Christ?  It  is  no  easy  matter  to  create  a  great  and 
original  character.  If  you  think  it  is,  let  the  most 
clever  among  you  try  it,  and  my  w^ord  for  it,  you  will 
soon  change  your  mind.  Virgil  is  not  original.  He 
borrows  from  Homer,  and  Dante  borrows  from  Virgil, 
and  Milton  from  Dante,  and  even  Shakespeare,  w^e  are 
told,  "  borrowed  his  plots,  incidents  and  characters 
without  scruple."  But  from  whom  did  the  writers  of 
the  gospels  borrow?  What  character  could  have 
given  them  a  clew  to  such  a  life  as  that  of  Christ? 

If  they  invented  Christ,  if  He  is  a  fabrication,  then 
see  what  follows.  Men  without  genius,  without  any 
special  learning,  have  imagined  a  character  immeas- 
urably superior  in  every  particular  to  the  loftiest  cre- 
ations of  the  most  gifted  writers  of  all  the  ages.  In 
the  field  in  which  the  Shakespeares,  tlie  Goethes  and 
the  Scotts  have  won  their  renown,  they  are  infinitely 
surpassed  by  four  humble  and  unlearned  men.  Are 
we  not  then  inevitably  driven  to  the  conclusion  so  well 
expressed  by  Theodore  Parker,  the  distinguished  Uni- 


—  95  — 

tarian:  "  Shall  we  be  told,"  says  he,  "  that  such  a  man 
never  lived — that  the  whole  stor}^  is  a  lie?  Suppose 
that  Plato  and  Newton  had  never  lived.  But  who  did 
their  wonders  and  thought  their  thoughts?  It  takes 
a  Newton  to  forge  a  Newton.  What  man  could  have 
fabricated  Jesus?  None  but  Jesus."  This,  then,  is 
the  point  to  w^hich  we  are  driven  by  calm,  unbiased 
reason,  viz.,  that  these  gospel  writers  w^ere  not  in- 
ventors, but  reporters.  The  Jesus  whom  they  set 
before  us  was  not  imagined,  but  drawn  from  the  life. 
"My  friend,"  says  Rousseau,  the  infidel,  "  men  do  not 
invent  like  this;  and  the  facts  respecting  Socrates, 
which  no  one  doubts,  are  not  so  well  attested  as  those 
about  Jesus  Christ.  These  Jews  could  never  have 
struck  this  tone,  or  thought  of  this  morality,  and  the 
gospel  has  characteristics  of  truthfulness  so  grand,  so 
striking,  so  perfectly  inimitable,  that  their  inventors 
would  be  even  more  wonderful  than  He  whom  they 
portray."  The  theory,  then,  that  Jesus  is  a  fiction 
must  be  abandoned.  It  does  not  explain.  The  key 
does  not  fit  the  lock. 

II.  Since,  therefore.  He  must  have  been  a  real 
person,  can  He  be  explained  and  accounted  for  on 
the  theory  that  He  w^as  only  a  man  ?  By  friend  and 
foe  .alike,  it  is  admitted  that  His  character  is  perfect. 
Let  me  quote,  in  this  connection,  the  testimony  of  two 
or  three  w^ell  known  writers  who,  to  say  the  least,  were 
anything  but  friendly  to  the  orthodox  view  of  Chris- 
tianity. Speaking  of  Christ,  John  Stuart  Mill  calls 
Him  "  the  ideal  representative  and  guide  of  human- 


96 


ity."  Strauss,  the  German  rationalist,  already  re- 
ferred to,  although  he  adopts  the  mythical  explana- 
tions of  Jesus,  says:  "  He  remains  the  highest  model 
of  religion  within  the  reach  of  our  thought,  and  no 
perfect  piety  is  possible  without  His  presence  in  the 
heart."  Dr.  Channing,  the  famous  Unitarian,  speaks 
of  Him  thus:  ''The  character  of  Jesus  is  wholly  in- 
explicable on  human  j)rinciples."  This  testimony,  be 
it  observed,  is  thoroughly  impartial,  and,  I  think,  you 
can  see  its  force.  The  Roman  procurator's  verdict, 
"  I  find  in  Him  no  fault  at  all,"  is  the  verdict  of  the 
ages. 

Approach  His  character  from  what  side  you  will 
and  it  is  without  a  flaw.  His  piety  toward  God  is 
matched  b}^  His  benevolence  toward  man.  His  life  is 
strictly  just,  and  at  the  same  time  beautifully  kind. 
He  is  temperate,  but  never  austere;  courageous,  but 
never  rash  ;  humble,  but  never  servile;  dignified,  but 
never  cold  ;  singular,  but  never  affected;  devout,  but 
never  ecstatic ;  independent,  but  never  disrespectful ; 
intensely  in  earnest,  but  never  excited.  There  is  no 
defect  and  no  excess ;  not  too  much  of  one  virtue  and 
too  little  of  another,  but  an  absolutely  perfect  balance  of 
qualities.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  single 
point  at  which  his  character,  as  depicted  in  the  Gos- 
pels, can  be  improved.  It  were  easier  to  add  a  tint 
of  beauty  to  the  rose,  or  a  beam  of  splendor  to  the  sun- 
set glory  than  to  amend  the  character  of  Jesus.  In 
every  otlier  exalted  personage  we  find  both  weakness 
and  strength.       There  is  always  something  to  mar, 


—  97  — 

something  to  break  up  the  consistency.  Luther  was 
great,  but  he  sometimes  lost  his  patience  and  flew 
into  a  passion.  Calvin  was  great,  but  he  could  not 
break  away  wholly  from  the  influence  of  his  environ- 
ment. Wesley  was  great,  but  his  views  of  truth  were 
circumscribed  ;  he  saw  only  a  small  arc  of  the  infinite 
circle.  So  of  all  other  great  leaders  and  epoch-mak- 
ers. But  in  Jesus  Christ  we  find  one  who  is  symmet- 
rical throughout.  There  is  nothing  little,  nothing 
narrow,  nothing  that  can  be  omitted.  "  When 
most  at  sea,"  says  a  writer  in  the  Unitarian  Re- 
view, "  When  most  at  sea  upon  other  points,  even 
the  most  unbelieving  have  felt  that  in  the  moral 
excellence  of  Jesus  Christ  they  have  placed  their 
feet  upon  the  everlasting  rock.  =1=  *  *  They 
may  hold  out  successfully  against  other  arguments, 
but  they  confess  themselves  conquered  here.  The  pure 
spiritual  life  of  Jesus  has  been  tlie  leaven  in  the  three 
measures  of  meal.  The  wonderful  beauty  of  his  life 
has  been  testified  to  by  men  of  all  creeds  and  of  no 
creeds."  This  is  strong  testimony,  and  I  would  like 
3^ou  to  hold  it  in  mind,  as  it  will  bear  vitally  upon  our 
conclusion. 

It  is  acknowledged,  then,  by  men  of  all  creeds  and  of 
no  creed,  that  the  character  of  Jesus  is  not  only  good, 
but  morally  perfect.  It  will  be  in  order,  therefore,  in 
close  connection  with  this  thought,  to  consider  his 
claims  ;  and  these,  be  it  remembered,  are  recorded  in 
the  very  same  gospels  that  describe  his  life.  See,  then, 
what  he  claims  for  himself: 


—  98  — 

1.  He  claims  to  be  all-poiuerful.     To  his  disciples  he  - 
said:     "All  power  is  given  unto  me,  in  heaven  and 
in  earth." 

2.  He  claims  to  be  omnipreseiit.  "  Where  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  1 
in  the  midst  of  them."  "  Lo  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

3.  He  claims  to  have  existed  before  the  world  luas. 
In  his  prayer  in  the  17th  of  John  he  says :  "And  now, 
O  Father,  glorify  thou  me  with  thine  own  self  with- 
the  glory  which  I  had  with  thee  before  the  world 
was." 

4.  He  claims  to  have  come  from  God.  Thus :  "  I 
proceeded  forth  and  came  from  God." 

5.  He  claims  to  be  the  judge  before  whom  all  men 
are  to  be  gathered.  "When  the  Son  of  Man  shall 
come  in  his  glor}^,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him, 
then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory,  and  be- 
fore him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations;  and  he  shall 
separate  them  one  from  another." 

6.  He  claims  a  right  to  equal  honor  with  the  Father. 
"  All  men  should  honor  the  Son,  even  as  they  honor 
the  Father." 

7.  He  claims  to  be  one  with  the  Father.  "  I  and  my 
Father  are  one."  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen 
the  Father." 

8.  He  claims  to  be  without  sin.  Conscious  of  his 
stainless  purity  he  flings  down  the  challenge:  "Wliich 
of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin?" 


—  99  — 

9.  He  claims  to  be  able  to  forgive  sin.  "  But  that 
ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  Man  hath  power  on 
earth  to  forgive  sin,  then  saith  he  to  the  sick  of  the 
palsy:  'Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  go  unto  thine 
house.' " 

Such  are  some  of  his  claims.  Besides,  he  calls  him- 
self the  ''  light  of  the  world,"  "  the  bread  of  life,"  "the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  "  the  good  shepherd," 
"the  door  into  the  sheepfold,"  "the  vine,"  and  so  on 
to  the  end  of  the  list.  If  he  never  made  these  claims, 
then  we  cannot  believe  the  gospel  writers.  If  we  can- 
not believe  the  gospel  writers,  then  it  follows  that  men 
who  are  deceivers  and  impostors  have  delineated  the 
only  perfect  character  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Could 
such  a  pure  stream  come  from  such  an  impure  fountain? 
But  we  have  already  seen  that  they  could  not  have 
been  forgers  and  inventors;  that  they  must  have 
painted  from  the  life.  It  follows,  then,  since  they  were 
narrators  of  fact,  and  not  writers  of  fiction,  that  Jesus 
did  make  these  claims. 

Now,  one  of  two  things  is  certain.  Either  these 
claims  are  true  or  they  are  false. 

Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that  they  are  false. 
Let  us  assume  that  he  was  not  all-pow^erful ;  not  om- 
nipresent; not  equal  with  the  Father;  not  an  inhab- 
itant of  eternity  before  the  world  was  ;  not  able  to  for- 
give sin,  but  simply  a  man.  Then  it  follows  that  the 
spotless  Jesus,  "  the  highest  model  of  religion  within 
the  reach  of  our  thought,"  made  claims  to  which  he 
had  no  right.     He  claimed  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  and 


—  100  — 

allowed  himself  to  be  worshipped  as  God.  He  suffered 
them  to  trust  in  him  and  to  call  him  "  My  Lord  and 
my  God."  If  he  was  only  a  man  this  was  idolatry, 
and  yet  he  permitted  it  to  pass  without  rebuke.  The 
Jews  certainly  understood  him  to  claim  that  he  w^as 
God,  and  for  this  they  condemned  him  to  death ;  he 
w^as  also  honored  as  divine  by  his  followers,  and  if  he 
was  not,  why  did  he  not  disabuse  their  minds  of  a  de- 
lusion so  cruel?  Will  a  good  and  pure  and  noble 
man  allow  his  friends  to  entertain  opinions  of  him 
which  are  not  only  utterly  false,  but  which  will  lead 
to  persecution  and  reproach  and  martyrdom?  Will  a 
man  so  wise,  so  self-poised,  so  tender  and  kind,  encour- 
age his  disciples  to  give  up  everything  for  his 
sake,  to  follow  him,  even  to  the  death,  to  love 
him  more  than  father  or  mother,  or  sister  or  brother, 
only  to  deceive  them  at  last  and  plunge  them 
in  despair?  It  is  inconceivable.  If,  as  another  has 
said — and  I  quote  the  words  with  bated  breath — if 
Christ  is  simply  a  man,  and  these  claims  of  his  are 
false,  "  He  has  corrupted  the  whole  current  of  human 
history.  He  has  deluded  millions  of  people  for  nine- 
teen centuries.  He  is  the  great  impostor  of  the  race; 
a  man  so  mighty  in  sin  that  forgiveness  cannot  reach 
him." 

That  seems  like  a  terrible  thing  to  say,  or  even  to 
think,  but  upon  the  supposition  that  Jesus  was  only 
a  man  and  these  claims  false,  the  language  is  none 
too  strong.  Put  these  claims  upon  the  lips  of  any 
mere  man,  in  any  land  or  age,  and  they  brand  him 


—  101  — 

either  with  insanity  or  infamy.  Is  it  not  easy  to  see 
that  to  put  such  claims  on  any  human  lip  is  to  carry 
blasphemy  to  its  farthest  possible  extreme  ?  And  yet 
when  Jesus  utters  them  they  produce  no  shock  what- 
ever. 

But  these  astounding  claims  for  himself  are  equaled 
by  his  claims  from  men.  Once  a  woman  came  to  him 
with  a  box  of  ointment.  It  was  all  she  had  in  the 
Avorld.  But  instead  of  taking  a  part  of  it,  just  to  show 
liis  appreciation  of  her  grateful  love,  he  took  every 
particle  of  it.  Could  you  have  done  that?  Nay,  verily. 
You  would  have  said,  "Since  you  are  so  kind  as. 
to  offer  it,  I  will  take  just  a  little.  It  would  be  cruel 
to  take  it  all."  Another  poor  woman  came  along  one 
day.  She  w^as  in  her  widow's  weeds,  and  appealed  to 
the  sympathy  of  every  great  heart  as  she  made  her 
way  toward  the  temple.  We  would  expect  to  hear  him 
say,  "  Poor  woman ;  we  cannot  take  anything  from 
her.  She  needs  every  penny  she  can  raise  to  buy 
bread  for  her  own  household."  But  he  didn't  say  that. 
She  took  out  her  two  mites,  cast  them  into  tlie  treas- 
ury, and  he  received  them  both.  Is  that  humanity?* 
And  yet  his  heart  was  the  kindest,  the  biggest,  the 
world  has  ever  known. 

He  never  takes  a  part  of  anything.  He  claims  all^ 
and  must  have  it.  He  does  not  ask  our  friendship  and 
sympathy,  but  claims  our  very  souls;  claims  them  un- 
conditionally. He  claims  our  time,  our  talents,  our 
possessions,  our  entire  manhood  and  womanhood,  lays 

*  See  Dr.  Parker's  "  Inner  Life  of  Christ,"  vol.  iii,  325. 


—  102  — 

liis  hand  upon  them  all  and  says:  "They are  mine." 
We  may  safely  challenge  an}^  man  to  reconcile  these 
claims,  both  for  himself  and  from  men,  with  the  theory 
that  he  is  only  a  man. 

See,  then,  where  the  argument  leads  us,  on  the  sup- 
position that  these  claims  are  false.  If  they  are  false, 
the  holiest  among  the  holy  led  a  life  of  imposture;  the 
"  loftiest  ideal  of  humanity  "  usurped  honors  to  which 
he  had  no  right;  the  most  lowly  and  candid  being  that 
ever  trod  the  earth  was  guilty  of  playing  a  part ;  the 
most  unselfish  was  the  most  exacting;  the  most  hum- 
ble never  missed  an  opportunity  to  exalt  himself;  that 
he  who  loved  most  to  commune  with  God  was  an  un- 
paralleled deceiver;  that  he  who  died  to  establish  the 
world's  purest  and  best  religion  was,  of  all  men,  the 
most  vain  and  egotistical  and  corrupt. 

That,  fellow-men,  is  the  logic  of  the  situation,  and 
there  is  no  escaping  it.  Here  is  his  character,  pure 
and  spotless  as  the  great  White  Throne.  It  is  conceded 
that  it  could  not  have  been  invented.  Here  are  the 
Gospels  which  contain  these  claims.  It  is  acknowl- 
edged that  these  writings  are  the  original  sources  of 
all  we  know  concerning  Jesus.  If,  then,  these  claims 
are  false,  everything  is  false,  and  we  find  ourselves  in- 
volved in  a  hopeless  tangle  of  contradictions. 

III.  Since,  therefore,  the  two  explanations  thus 
far  considered  are  insufficient  to  account  for  the  Christ, 
we  come  now  to  the  third  and  last,  the  one  that 
throbs  til  rough  our  text  and  through  all  the  sacred 
volume.       If  it   is  impossible  that   he    should  be  a 


—  103  — 

myth,  if  the  content  of  the  word  man  falls  infinitely 
short  of  measuring  up  to  the  necessities  of  the  case; 
then  are  we  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  his  claims 
are  valid,  and  that  he  is  God.  Admit  this  to  be  true 
and  difficulties  vanish,  contradictions  are  recon- 
ciled, the  sky  clears  away.  It  explains  his  power,  it 
explains  his  wisdom,  it  explains  the  matchless  grace 
and  fulness  of  his  speech,  it  explains  the  wondrous 
contrasts  that  meet  in  his  life,  his  majesty  and  his 
lowliness,  his  riches  and  his  poverty,  his  humility  and 
his  self-exaltation;  it  explains  his  words  and  his 
works,  his  life  and  his  death.  Take  him  at  his  own 
estimation,  accept  his  statements,  and  the  music  of 
the  Gospels  is  one,  rythmic  in  its  consistency  and  heav- 
enly in  every  burst  and  throb  and  strain  from  prelude 
to  finale. 

Yes,  men  and  women,  he  Is  God.  Reason  affirms 
it.  The  Scriptures  declare  it.  His  own  lips  assert  it, 
and  our  hearts  respond  with  an  unqualified,  Amen. 
For,  after  all,  there  is  something  in  these  natures  of 
ours  deeper  than  any  logic  can  reach;  something 
back  of  the  intellect,  and  greater  than  the  intellect,  a 
soul-life,  a  soul-love,  a  soul-longing,  with  eyes  keener 
than  any  that  belong  to  the  understanding.  Those 
eyes  penetrate  the  veil,  they  look  behind  into  the  re- 
gion of  spirit,  and  they  see  Him  and  know  Him  as 
God.  While  I  would  do  honor  to  the  mind,  while  I 
would  crown  and  glorify  it,  yet  the  heart  is  greater,  it 
reaches  further,  it  stands  for  more,  and  when  the  heart 
is  appealed  to  for  a  verdict,  it'  cries  out:  "  My  Lord, 
and  my  God." 


—  104  — 

For  such  a  verdict  I  ask  this  morning.  I  trust 
I  have  given  you  something  to  think  about.  God  for- 
bid that  I  should  ignore  the  intellect,  but  it  belongs 
to  the  preacher  to  speak  to  the  whole  man,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  deeper  man,  to  that  part  of  his  nature 
which  determines  his  living,  viz.,  his  heart  and  his 
conscience.  So,  while  I  ask  you  to  conclude  by  intel- 
lectual processes,  I  ask  you  to  accept,  to  lay  hold,  with 
the  affections  and  the  will. 

He  is  God,  God.  He  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now, 
and  ever  shall  be.  Do  you  admit  it?  Do  you  ac- 
knowledge it  on  the  strength  of  his  own  statements, 
backed  up  by  a  character  immaculate  as  a  sunbeam? 
Then  why,  O  why,  do  you  withhold  from  him  your 
homage  and  love?  You  are  not  asked  to  wor- 
slrip  an  infinite  despot,  to  bend  the  knee  to  an  Al- 
mighty Tyrant.  You  are  asked  simply  to  come  to  the 
One  God,  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  the  express  image, 
the  supreme  manifestation  of  the  Father,  who  made 
himself  a  way,  a  road,  over  which  the  weary  feet  of 
humanity  might  come  back  to  the  old  home-land  of 
heaven.  Will  you  join  the  returning  throng?  You 
are  asked  to  come  to  the  great  Burden-Bearer,  to  the 
Crucified,  but  risen  God,  to  heaven's  divine  Embassa- 
dor for  help,  for  guidance,  for  comfort,  for  pardon. 
Who  in  all  this  company  will  take  the  responsibility 
either  of  postponement  or  rejection? 


'   orTHf 
DIVERSITY 

of 


??S  NRtf 


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5                                  ( 

b 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

SBWrONILL 

MAY  0  2  tffi 

0.  C.  BERKELEY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 
FORM  NO.  DD  19                          BERKELEY,  CA  94720            ^ 

'B  1319? 


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